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Dawn Steel

American filmmaker (1946–1997)

Dawn Leslie Steel (August 19, 1946 – December 20, 1997) was an American film studio executive and producer. She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio, rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head Columbia Pictures in 1987.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Dawn Steel (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Aug 19, 1946, died Dec 20, 1997.1

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedNew York University3
  • Date not recordedWilliam A. Shine Great Neck South High School3

Steel was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York to Nathan "Nat" Steel (born Spielberg), a zipper salesman to the military and semi-professional weight lifter called the "Man of Steel," and Lillian Steel (née Tarlow), a businesswoman.

Lillian Tarlo Steel, Dawn's mother, died from lung cancer at age 55. She was the daughter of Nathan and Rebecca Tarlo, Polish immigrants. She had two brothers named Abraham and Paul. Their name became spelled T-A-R-L-O-W when Abraham joined the U.S. military during World War I. Paul and Abraham's children reside in NYC and Georgia, while Lillian's children live in California.

Dawn grew up in Manhattan and in Great Neck, New York, according to her autobiography. Her brother Larry Steel was her only sibling.

Both of her parents were of Russian-Jewish descent. When she was nine years old, Steel's father suffered a nervous breakdown, so her mother was the family's sole support.

Steel attended the School of Business Administration at Boston University from 1964 to 1965, but left due to financial problems. She attended New York University from 1966 to 1967, studying marketing, but did not graduate.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dawn Steel (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: film producer, entrepreneur, producer.5

In 1968, Steel worked as a sportswriter for Major League Baseball Digest and the NFL in New York.

In 1968, after starting out as a secretary, Steel became merchandising director for Penthouse.

In 1975, she founded a merchandising company that produced novelty items such as designer logo toilet paper called Oh Dawn! Inc. One of the products she created was Gucci-logo embellished toilet paper. Within months the Gucci family sued Steel for trademark infringement. Steel hired attorney Sid Davidoff, a former top aide to Mayor John Lindsay. The case was in the news as "toilet paper caper" and was the subject of an editorial cartoon. The case was settled out of court.

In 1978, Steel moved to Los Angeles, working as a merchandising consultant for Playboy.

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Paramount Pictures

In 1978, Steel sold her interest in the Oh Dawn! merchandising business to her ex-husband and asked Davidoff to place a call to Hollywood. Davidoff made an introduction to Richard Weston, who ran Paramount Pictures' merchandising unit. In 1978, Steel joined Paramount Pictures as Director of Merchandising and Licensing, where she planned marketing tie-ins for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. She was promoted to vice president, and then vice president of production in 1980 and senior vice president of production in 1983. She was a protégé of Barry Diller, the CEO of Paramount at the time.

While at Paramount, Steel's support for Flashdance (1983) and the movie's massive success helped her secure the position of president of production for the studio in 1985. She also oversaw Top Gun (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), and The Accused (1988), among others. Steel was the second woman to head a major film production department, after Sherry Lansing at Twentieth-Century Fox.

Columbia Pictures

Steel became president of Columbia Pictures in 1987. She was the first female studio head. The first film she approved as president was Casualties of War; Pauline Kael said that "whatever else [Steel] does, she should be honored for that decision, because twenty years later this is still risky material." Under her tenure, the studio also released When Harry Met Sally... which had been developed and produced independently by Castle Rock productions. Steel's brief two-year tenure was marked by continued turmoil and losses, continuing a string of bad news begun under David Puttnam before her appointment. She was asked to leave the studio in 1989 and shortly thereafter Coca-Cola spun off the studio and exited the movie business; Columbia was thereafter sold to Sony Corporation of Japan. She resigned from this position on January 8, 1990.

Independent producing

Steel Pictures

In 1990, Steel formed Steel Pictures in a production deal at The Walt Disney Company. She left Disney in 1993 after making two films, 1993's Cool Runnings, a comedy about the Jamaican bobsled team, and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Cool Runnings was her first Disney film as a producer.

Atlas Entertainment

In 1994, Steel formed Atlas Entertainment with husband Charles Roven and Bob Cavallo. They had a three-year first look deal with Turner Pictures. Her final two films before her death from cancer were Fallen and City of Angels.

Memoir

In 1993, she wrote a memoir, They Can Kill You But They Can't Eat You, which described her time at Columbia. In the book Steel describes finding out – after giving birth to her daughter – that she was fired as President of Production at Paramount.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dawn Steel (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornAug 19, 1946, The Bronx6
  • DiedDec 20, 1997, Los Angeles7
  • CitizenshipUnited States8
  • SpouseCharles Roven 1985 to 19979
  • Children110

Steel's father changed the family surname from "Spielberg" before her birth. The name Steel was chosen to reflect her father's weightlifting career.

In 1975, Steel married Ronnie Rothstein, a former business partner in the Oh Dawn! merchandising company. She dated young struggling actor Richard Gere in 1975 and director Martin Scorsese (after his divorce from Isabella Rossellini) in 1983.

In 1985, she married film producer Charles Roven with whom she had a daughter in 1987.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dawn Steel (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 1989Crystal Award11 12

Sources

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