- Jack Rollins and his longtime business partner, Charles Joffe, who died in 2008, liked to find young talent to nurture. "Rollins," Joan Rivers told the Tribune in 1986, "could take a grain of sand and make it into an industry." That was never more true than with Woody Allen, who came to Jack Rollins' Manhattan office in the late 1950s because he wanted to write for Nichols and May, the hip comedy act of the era. That wouldn't work out because the duo created their own material, but Jack Rollins and Charles Joffe saw something in the young TV writer. "He'd be dead serious when he read a sketch of his, but it hit us funny," Rollins told the New York Times in 1985. "Woody didn't know why we were laughing. He'd give a 'what's so funny?' look." Jack Rollins and Charles Joffe encouraged the deadpan Allen to do stand-up. Painful at first, "The first 18 months as a stand-up comedian were horrendous,' Rollins said in the 1986 Tribune interview. "Woody was the worst comedian you can possibly imagine -- zero grace as a performer." Finally the tide turned. "Woody got a smile, then a laugh, and then a cult." Woody Allen never forgot the manager who stuck by him. Allen continued to list Rollins as a producer on his films -- including "Irrational Man," -- long after the manger retired. "Jack Rollins had not been involved with his films for many years," Robert Weide, director of the 2012 film "Woody Allen: A Documentary," said in an interview, "I'm not sure if they even talked much." Weide asked Allen why he continued to give Rollins the credit. "Because without Jack," Allen replied, "I wouldn't have a career. Rollins was one of the very few people in my life who lived up to the hype about him. All the stories about how great Jack Rollins was are true".
- Co-produced nearly all of Woody Allen films ever since 1969, except Love and Death (1975).
- He was a producer and talent manager whose clients included Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Lenny Bruce, and the comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May.
- He was drafted into the Army during WWII. He spent most of the war in India, decoding communications. One of his commanding officers was movie star Melvyn Douglas, who staged shows for troops in the China-Burma-India theater. He helped Rollins with contacts to get started as a producer after the war.
- Rollins wasn't aiming for a show business career in particular, according to his daughter Francesca. "He didn't know what he wanted to do," Francesca said. "He had to find something where he could stay up late, and get up late and not require him to punch a clock. That wasn't his style." The answer came when he was in the Army during World War II, stationed on a base in India. He got involved in a satirical revue about Army life and decided show business was his calling. Back in New York after the war, he was looking for plays to produce without much luck when he became a manager by "sheer accident," Jack Rollins was quoted as saying in the 1991 book "The Compass," about the improvisational-group that gave Nichols and May their start. "I was strolling in the Village courting my wife," Rollins said. "We peered into the window of a tiny restaurant, and there was Harry Belafonte, flipping hamburgers." Rollins' soon-to-be wife, Jane, (deceased 2012) recognized Belafonte as a struggling pop singer seeking to switch to folk music. Belafonte became Jack Rollins' first major client. Rollins helped forge a new image for the singer, leading to early successes. Rollins and Belafonte had a bitter falling-out after a few years, but Rollins had earned a reputation as a manager who had solid instincts when it came to building careers. Jack Rollins and Charles Joffe were known for taking on only a few clients at a time. Eventually, Charles Joffe worked almost solely with Allen and Jack Rollins focused on David Letterman. Jack Rollins was listed as executive producer on the NBC show "Late Night with David Letterman" from 1983 to 1991.
- His father, a blacksmith in Kiev, became a garment worker in New York.
- For all his influence on comedy, Jack Rollins -- who had a rumpled look and often sported a cigar -- was known as someone who couldn't tell a joke. But there were funny stories about him, including one that Billy Crystal told the Tribune in 1986. Crystal was doing stand-up in 1974 when Jack Rollins came to see him in a Manhattan club. After the performance, a nervous Crystal offered Rollins a ride home, which turned out to be even more nerve-wracking because the manager spent the drive criticizing his act. Finally, they reached Rollins' home. "He got to his front door," Crystal said, "and he headed back to my car. I thought he was going to say something like, 'I thought you were terrific' or 'I didn't mean to hurt your feelings,' but he said to me, 'Would you mind taking me back? I just realized I drove over there tonight and left my car.'" Crystal said, "Jack's notes on my work always meant everything to me. To me he was a real Giant. Referring to Rollins as an 'old person' is extremely impolite. Rollins (b:March 23, 1915-to-d:June 18, 2015) was a Centenarian." Rollins' wife, Jane, died in 2013. Rollins is survived by daughters Susan, Francesca, and Hillary, and four grandchildren.
- Along the way, Jack Rollins helped create the role of the modern show business manager. "When I went into this business in 1946, there weren't managers. There was only Milton Berle's mother" he said in a 1988 Chicago Tribune interview.
- Legendary talent manager Jack Rollins' client list played a key role in defining comedy in the last half of the 20th century and beyond; Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, David Letterman, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Billy Crystal, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Paula Poundstone, Martin Short, Robert Klein -- all were on his client roster at one point or another.
- Born Jacob Rabinowitz on March 23, 1915, in Brooklyn, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and earned a degree at City College of New York.
- Inducted into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame in 2015.
- His first major success came in the 1950s when he managed actor and singer Harry Belafonte. Rollins co-wrote the song Man Piaba with Belafonte on his 1954 debut RCA Victor album Mark Twain and other Folk Favorites.
- In 1958 he helped create and promote the comedy duo Nichols and May.
- He went on to help shepherd the careers of several prominent comedians with his partner Charles H. Joffe, beginning in 1960 with Woody Allen and later with Dick Cavett, Billy Crystal, David Letterman, and Robin Williams.
- Rollins was an American film and television producer and talent manager of comedians and television personalities.
- Rollins' work as a Broadway producer during the late 1940s and early 1950s proved to be difficult and ultimately unfruitful. He abandoned this pursuit in 1951 when he established a one-man talent agency in Midtown Manhattan. He worked with the then-unknown Harry Belafonte.
- Rollins worked as a decoder of communications in India during the war where one of his commanding officers was actor Melvyn Douglas. Rollins assisted Douglas in staging shows at the China-Burma-India theater and developed a friendship with him.
- He spent two years working for an orphanage in Chicago before being drafted into the United States Army during World War II.
- In his 2005 Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech, Robin Williams referred to Jack Rollins as 'the most ethical man in show business'.
- Jacob Rabinowitz was the son of a Brooklyn garment worker. Not content to follow in his father's footsteps, he shortened his name to the less-Hebraic "Jack Rollins," set his sights on show business and succeeded in becoming one of the most-respected personal managers and producers in the history of show business.
- . Rollins devoted himself to Belafonte, literally grooming the singer for stardom by selecting the open-collared shirt and tight black pants that would become Belafonte's signature look. Belafonte followed Rollins' advice, his career took off, and, in 1954, he left Rollins and went with another firm - not unlike how fictional singer Lou Canova would jettison personal manager Danny Rose for a bigger firm in Broadway Danny Rose. Despite the sting of Belafonte's abrupt departure, Rollins remained adamant about working intimately with his clients. As he explained it, "I have to work with people who fulfill me emotionally.".
- In 1933, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, and in 1937 earned a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York.
- From 1970 to 1972 he was an executive producer on ABC's The Dick Cavett Show and, from 1982 to 1992, he was an executive producer of the NBC series Late Night with David Letterman. Between the two shows, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award ten times.
- He was approached in the early 1960s by legendary comedian Lenny Bruce concerning management and possible representation. According to Rollins' wife, Jane, Rollins declined due to Bruce's personal issues.
- Rollins was producer for The David Letterman Show (1980) and Late Night with David Letterman from its inception in 1982 until 1992.
- He was credited as an executive producer on many of the films directed by Woody Allen from 1969 to 2015.
- Rollins always preferred a small, select roster of clients, with nothing more than a handshake to seal the deal. Those fortunate few have included such unique and diverse talents as: Allen, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Joan Rivers, Nichols and May, Tony Bennett, Jim Carrey, Cavett, Diane Keaton, David Letterman, Klein, Martin Short, Jimmy Tingle, Brickman, Paula Poundstone, Storm, Melissa Manchester, Louise Lasser, Steven Wright and Andrea Martin.
- Rollins was a close friend of jazz pianist Bill Evans, with whom he owned a racehorse named 'Annie Hall'.
- After the war, Melvin Douglas assisted Rollins in developing the professional contacts he needed to begin working as a producer on Broadway.
- Rollins' work as a film and television producer was closely tied to the artists that he managed.
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