Photo: Courtesy MICHELLE BEGA
Hollywood publicist Paul Bloch, famous for representing Bruce Willis,Tom Cruiseand Sylvester Stallone among many others, has died at 78, PEOPLE confirms.
The chairman of Rogers & Cowan, one of Hollywood’s leading publicity firms for talent, died Friday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after battling a long illness, the agency said.
He graduated from University High School and began basic training for the U.S. Army in 1957 at Fort Ord in Monterey, California, the obit read.
He graduated from UCLA and started working in the Rogers & Cowan mailroom in 1961. From there, his career took off.
“Bloch rose to become President of the Music Department and represented some of the most celebrated acts of the day including The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, Trini Lopez, Julio Iglesias and Ricky Nelson,” it continued.
“Over his 58 years at Rogers & Cowan, Bloch was instrumental in helping to build the successes of major motion picture stars including John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, Michael Keaton, Eddie Murphy, James Caan Nick Nolte, Vin Disel, Billy Bob Thornton, Danny Glover and many others,” it read.
“Bloch remained relevant over the decades, always working with the newest talent of the current generation, discovering such actors as Brie Larson and Liam Hemsworth and moving into worldwide representation of Asian superstar Donnie Yen,” his obituary added.
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Bloch’s influence extended to award-winning filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis, Jerry Bruckheimer, Brian Grazer, Jerry Weintraub and Glenn Gordon Caron.
Ina statement toThe Hollywood Reporter, fellow publicist Stan Rosenfield said of Bloch: “Paul was not one of the best. He was the best. To say he will be missed is like saying Everest is a mountain. May he rest in peace.”
Among Bloch’s many famous talents was Cruise, whom he represented from 2005 to 2010, and Lisa Marie Presley while she was married to Michael Jackson.
His clientele extended to John Travolta, Sharon Stone, Farrah Fawcett, Kevin Costner, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Keaton, Anthony Hopkins, Victoria Beckham, Steven Seagal and many more.
source: people.com
