Jack Rollins obit

Jack Rollins, Producer Who Made Woody Allen & Robin Williams Laugh, Dies At 100

 He was not on the list.

If there was a Jewish equivalent to the roundtable of vaunted wits who gathered at the Algonquin Hotel in the early decades of the last century, it was probably the deli where Jack Rollins, Charles Joffe and their crowd held court, as replicated in Broadway Danny Rose, his client Woody Allen‘s fond tribute to the era. Rollins, who was feted on his centennial in early April by several of the living laugh-mongers who owed their careers in comedy to him, died Thursday in the Manhattan apartment he’d lived in for half a century.

A son of Russian immigrants, Rollins grew up in Brooklyn with his parents and two sisters, served in India during World War II and took a shot at Broadway producing before the club habitué came upon an unknown pop crooner named Harry Belafonte. In 1951 Rollins told the struggling singer to exploit his West Indies background, his lean good looks and the natural empathy that gave his singing a deeper edge — all of which advice Belafonte took on his quick rise to stardom before moving on to other representation.

Rollins then spotted Mike Nichols and Elaine May, who were making a name for themselves in Greenwich Village nightspots as a smart, incisive duo with a gift for improvisation. Rollins launched them into the stratosphere, along with Allen, a TV gag writer who originally hoped to write material for Nichols & May. Rollins thought otherwise and devoted himself, Pygmalion to Allen’s Galatea, to sculpting the stand-up comic and later writer and director. When Rollins’ partner Charles Joffe expanded their agency to Los Angeles, Rollins nurtured the talent while Joffe cut the best deals for their client, securing for Allen from his first films the unrivaled creative freedom he has enjoyed throughout his career.

Rollins stuck to a similar recipe for several generations of comedic talent, from the dirty, daring boundary-breaker Lenny Bruce in the 1960s to Dick Cavett, Billy Crystal, Marshall Brickman, Robert Klein, Robin Williams and David Letterman. Other clients included Joan Rivers, Tony Bennett, Jim Carrey, Diane Keaton, Martin Short, Jimmy Tingle, Paula Poundstone, Melissa Manchester, Louise Lasser, Steven Wright and Andrea Martin.

Rollins was the executive producer of NBC’s Late Night With David Letterman from its debut in 1982 until Letterman moved to CBS. When, in 1990, Rollins and Joffe sold their agency to associates, they held on to Letterman and Allen as personal clients. Rollins retired in 1992. Joffe died in 2008.

Filmography

Executive producer

Film

 

Year     Title            Notes

1969    Don't Drink the Water            Director: Howard Morris

Take the Money and Run            Director: Woody Allen

1971            Bananas            Director: Woody Allen

1972    Play It Again, Sam            Director: Herbert Ross

Everything You Always Wanted to Know

About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)            Director: Woody Allen

1973    Sleeper            Director: Woody Allen

1975    Love and Death            Director: Woody Allen

1976    The Front            Director: Martin Ritt

1977    Annie Hall            Director: Woody Allen

1978            Interiors            Director: Woody Allen

1979            Manhattan            Director: Woody Allen

1980            Stardust Memories            Director: Woody Allen

1982    A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy            Director: Woody Allen

1983    Zelig            Director: Woody Allen

1984            Broadway Danny Rose            Director: Woody Allen

1985    The Purple Rose of Cairo            Director: Woody Allen

1986    Hannah and Her Sisters            Director: Woody Allen

1987    Radio Days            Director: Woody Allen

September            Director: Woody Allen

1988            Another Woman            Director: Woody Allen

1989    New York Stories            Segment: Oedipus Wrecks

Crimes and Misdemeanors            Director: Woody Allen

1990    Alice            Director: Woody Allen

1991            Shadows and Fog            Director: Woody Allen

1992            Husbands and Wives            Director: Woody Allen

1993            Manhattan Murder Mystery            Director: Woody Allen

1994    Bullets over Broadway            Director: Woody Allen

1995    Mighty Aphrodite            Director: Woody Allen

1996            Everyone Says I Love You            Director: Woody Allen

1997            Deconstructing Harry            Director: Woody Allen

1998            Celebrity            Director: Woody Allen

1999    Sweet and Lowdown            Director: Woody Allen

2000    Small Time Crooks            Director: Woody Allen

2001    The Curse of the Jade Scorpion            Director: Woody Allen

2002            Hollywood Ending            Director: Woody Allen

2003            Anything Else            Director: Woody Allen

2004            Melinda and Melinda            Director: Woody Allen

2005    Match Point            Director: Woody Allen

2006    Scoop            Director: Woody Allen

2007            Cassandra's Dream            Director: Woody Allen

2008    Vicky Cristina Barcelona            Director: Woody Allen

2009            Whatever Works            Director: Woody Allen

2010    You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger            Director: Woody Allen

2011            Midnight in Paris            Director: Woody Allen

2012    To Rome with Love            Director: Woody Allen

2013    Blue Jasmine            Director: Woody Allen

2014    Magic in the Moonlight            Director: Woody Allen

2015            Irrational Man            Director: Woody Allen

Television

 

Year     Title            Notes

1969    The Woody Allen Special            Comedy Special

1969-1971            The Dick Cavett Show   8 episodes

1982    The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell            Television documentary

1982-1992            Late Night with David Letterman            263 episodes

1986    David Letterman's 2nd Annual Holiday Film Festival            Television Special

1988    Late Night with David Letterman: 6th Anniversary Special            Television Special

1989    Late Night with David Letterman: 7th Anniversary Special            Television Special

 

As an actor

Year     Title            Role            Notes            Ref.

1980    To Woody Allen from Europe with Love            Himself            Documentary  

1980            Stardust Memories            Studio Executive         

1984            Broadway Danny Rose    Jack Rollins 

1996    Nichols and May: Take Two     Himself            Documentary, PBS

2004    Funny Already: A History of Jewish Comedy            Himself            TV-Movie documentary

2011    Woody Allen: A Documentary            Himself            Documentary, PBS