EMAIL: akingltd@yahoo.com
| Archer King |
February 27, 1917 - July 19, 2012 Archer King Ltd. was the longest individually owned theatrical agency franchise in New York, celebrating over 50 years as a corporation. Archer King was as energetic and active as any agent could be, with a history as an actor, producer, distributer, film packager and entertainment consultant. Archer was an actor for a short time, including two Broadway productions, "Summer Night" and "Stop Press," both in 1939. As an officer in World War II, he helped raise the morale of troops by putting on plays given to him by Irving Berlin. After the war, Archer returned to the theatre to produce a number of plays on Broadway including "Two Blind Mice" by Sam Spewack and Ferenc Molnar's "Miracle in the Mountains." Finally, in 1952, he settled down to become an agent with the Louis Shurr Agency. Never one to stay still very long, Archer forged out on his own and incorporated his own agency in 1957. He is credited with discovering such talents as James Dean, Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Martin Sheen, Paul Mazursky, Elizabeth Montgomery, Tommy Tune and Ron Howard. He also represented such clients as John Cassavettes, Broderick Crawford, Bette Midler, Dorothy Malone, and Alexis Smith. In 1962, Archer King Ltd., under Kanawha films Ltd., acquired and distributed a number of foreign films for the U.S. market, introducing then unknown European directors who have since gone on to greater success. These films included Roman Polanski's "Knife in the Water" and Volker Schlondorff's "Young Torless." Both films were nominated for Academy Awards. From the late 1970's to early 1980's, while retaining his agency franchise, Archer became the head of production of the Theater to Television Division of RKO Pictures. There he acquired and produced "Sweeney Todd" starring Angela Lansbury, which won an ACE Award for best production. He also produced the Pulitzer Prize play "The Gin Game" starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, "I Do! I Do!" starring Lee Remick and Hal Linden, and the Broadway show "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music." In addition, Archer King Ltd. acted as an entertainment consultant to the world's largest public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, Inc., where he was responsible for the promotional appearances of stars such as Bob Hope, John Forsythe, Robin Leach, Tony Randall, Danny Thomas, Loretta Swit and Henny Youngman. Archer produced a package for a film of the book The Devil's Soldier by Caleb Carr to star Tom Cruise, and to be directed by John Woo, which was contracted to Paramount Pictures as a Cruise-Wagner production with a $100 million budget. Caleb Carr is the author of the mega best seller The Alienist. At the age of 95, Archer's wonder and enthusiasm never diminished. He went to his office everyday forever in search of that next extraordinary artist; and he continued packaging plays, screenplays and producing and distributing films. Archer King Tribute Video |
