He also collaborated with Sheldon Leonard on ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ and ‘I Spy’ during his long career and with Steven Spielberg on Indiana Jones films.
Mike Fenton, the influential cast director who stars for such well-known films as one flew over the Cuckoo’s nest, The Godfather: Part II, ET – The Foreign and the three Back to the future films, is deceased. He was 85.
Fenton, who has spent more than half a century in show business, died Wednesday of natural causes at his Los Angeles home. told his son, Mick The Hollywood Reporter.
After starting in the mailroom at Music Corporation of America and becoming an agent at the Lew Wasserman firm, Fenton was a cast for Paramount and then for Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard’s T&L Productions, where he worked. The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, That girl, Gomer Pyle: USMC and Ek Spy.
Fenton co-founded the Casting Society of America (then known as the American Society of Casting Directors) in 1982. He received the CSA’s Hoyt Bowers Award for Career Achievement in 1989 and was a champion of casting directors everywhere.
In a statement, CSA co-presidents Russell Boast and Rich Mento said Fenton’s “remarkable accomplishments and incredible work to raise awareness and appreciation of the cast define his legacy in the entertainment industry.”
Fenton is working with Steven Spielberg on the director’s first role, The Sugarland Express (1974), as well as on episodes of NBCs Incredible stories, three Indiana Jones movies and kingdom of the sun (1987). He also worked on many functions that Spielberg produced, including the trio of Back to the future movies, Poltergeist (1982) and An American tail (1986).
“Working with Mike Fenton was like working in a candy store – he made an explosion,” Spielberg said. “His ardent support of actors was a legend, and after landing a film, the smile of any actor was seldom as wide as Mike’s. He helped me overcome every moment of indecision when I was three good “had options and could not choose. He was just as responsible for some actors getting their big break in my films as I was.”
“He not only supported actors, he also launched crusades. And he himself was a pretty good actor, because he would always read a dialogue outside the camera to create energy and mojo for the person reading for the role. “Much like the actors he stood for, Mike loved his role – and those around him loved him so much, and I will miss him very much.”
His extensive credit list – he has nearly 300 on IMDb – is also included American graffiti (1973), Chinatown (1974), Jong Frankenstein (1974), Shampoo (1975), The bad news carries (1976), Marathon Man (1976), Slap shot (1977), Breakaway (1979), Norma Rae (1979), Blade Runner (1982), A Christmas story (1983), Footloose (1984), Strangers (1986), Beaches (1988), Total revocation (1990), Chaplin (1992), Toy story (1995) and Sharknado 2: The second one (2014).
Asked about his trade in 2019 in an interview, Fenton said that a casting director ‘compiles the psychological and physical characteristics of the person you are putting together. Who can play the role best? of appearance, or do you throw it away because of their ability? … This is the art of casting. ‘
Ronald Michael Feinstein was born on January 29, 1935 in Los Angeles and grew up in Beverly Hills. His father, Robert, was a successful stockbroker who lost all his money in the Depression and then owned a gas station.
Fenton graduated from the UCLA Film School in 1956 with the goal of becoming a film writer and then got a job in the mail room at MCA. Mentor by Herman Citron, he is promoted to agent and represents clients such as Alfred Hitchcock and Shirley MacLaine.
After a year at the Ashley-Steiner Agency, he is working with future Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy (The godfather, Million dollar baby) before joining Paramount in 1963 as a film director. He discovered actors for films by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis, after which he spent three years at T&L, where he was also a co-producer of the Robert Culp-Bill Cosby. Ek Spy.
At T&L he hires Fred Roos, another future Oscar-winning producer (The Godfather: Part II), and the couple formed their own casting agency in 1971. Fenton would later partner with Jane Feinberg, Judy Taylor, Allison Cowitt, and, more recently, Ann Frederick.
In addition to his son, his second wife, Irene, daughter-in-law Alison and grandchildren Riley and Olivia survive. He was married to Janet Monfort from 1963 until her death in 2003.