Skip Brittenham obit

Skip Brittenham Dies: Powerhouse Ziffren Brittenham Lawyer Who Repped Harrison Ford, Eddie Murphy & Many Other Stars Was 83

 

He was not on the list.

Skip Brittenham, the powerhouse Hollywood attorney who co-founded Ziffren Brittenham and repped such star clients as Harrison Ford, Tim Allen and Eddie Murphy, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 83.

His firm, which he had left recently, confirmed the news but provided no other details.

“Everyone in our industry knew of Skip’s legal prowess,” Ziffren Brittenham LLP said in a statement. “But some may not have known of his quiet generosity, his ability to find humor and opportunity in the darkest moments, and his unwavering belief that media and the entertainment industry must serve people, not the other way around. He had an extraordinary gift for seeing opportunity where others saw only obstacles, and for treating everyone (from the firm’s first employees to its biggest clients) with respect and genuine interest.”

Outgoing and colorful, Brittenham was well known for working out his calls and cases in the halls of the firm before getting on the phone or appearing in court or the conference room. He brought a great sense of “play” to his work and, typically, wrote graphic novels in his spare time.

Longtime client Allen, star of Shifting Gears, Last Man Standing and Home Impriovement, said in a statement to Deadline: “A passing of a mentor and friend Skip Brittenham who’s combined intelligence, wisdom and business vision formed my career and guided me since I began my journey in Hollywood. To his family he was a great Dad, a husband and to so many, a great friend. Skip, I am devastated by your passing. My prayers and thoughts are with his family.”

A native of Port Huron, MI, Henry “Skip” Brittenham was among Hollywood’s top power brokers for decades. He graduated from UCLA Law School in 1970 and co-founded Ziffren Brittenham with Ken Ziffren eight years later. Ultimately known as Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie, Stiffelman, Cook, Johnson, Lande & Wolf, LLP, it became one of the world’s largest television, music and motion picture practices, specializing in entertainment-oriented merger, acquisition and financing transactions.

Brittenham helped drive the launch of Pixar, Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment and David Ellison’s Skydance Media and the split of DreamWorks SKG into separate entities. Brittenham also served on the board of numerous corporations including Pixar, Lowes Cineplex and DreamWorks Animation.

Along with Ford, Allen and Murphy, his eye-catching roster of clients included actors Bruce Willis, Michael Keaton and Drew Carey; directors Ridley Scott and his late brother Tony Scott, Shawn Levy and Andrew Stanton; producers Joe Roth and Nina Jacobson; executives Dana Walden, Kevin Feige, John Lasseter, Toby Emmerich, Jim Gianopulos, and Tom Rothman; and production companies Locksmith Animation, Reel FX, Working Title and Pioneer Pictures.

“Singular is an overused word: It should be reserved for the exceedingly rare likes of Skip Brittenham,” Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, said in a statement to Deadline. “A dear friend and valued advisor to me for my entire career, Skip was the wisest man I knew and among the very best. I’m sure he is fishing a big river in heaven as we mourn the passing of a true original.”

In a 2005 Brittenham profile for the Los Angeles Times, Ford said of his longtime lawyer: “What amuses me most about Skip is he often represents everyone in the deal. And, he does a really good job for everybody … I’ve always walked away from every negotiation and thought, ‘Jesus, how did he get that?’ ”

In the same Times piece, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner called Brittenham “a solution junkie.” But the subject of the article declined to offer any quotes, other than telling its author, “It’s just not my style to give interviews.”

Brittenham supervised numerous successful public offerings of media companies. Most recently, the bulk of his practice involved transactional law, in which the aggregate dollar amount of his deals — including the acquisition and sale of media companies, financing film slates and other media projects — had averaged more than $1 billion annually for years.

Brittenham received the Spirit of Liberty Award from People for the American Way in 2007 and was honored with the National Champions Award from the Alliance for Children’s Rights in 2011 along with his wife, actor Heather Thomas. As co-head of the development committee for the charity Conservation International, on whose board his daughter Kristina sits — he helped raise more than $1.5 billion during the past decade-plus. He also served on the boards of other charitable organizations including the American Oceans Campaign and the Environmental Media Association.

Brittenham was named UCLA Law School’s Alumni of the Year in 2000.

He was an avid fly fisherman, tennis player and UCLA basketball fan, stretching to the program’s unmatched golden years under the legendary coach John Wooden.

Along with his wife of 33 years, Thomas, he is survived by daughters India, Kristina and Shauna Brittenham; his brother, Bud; sons-in-law Jesse Sisgold and Avi Reiter; and four grandchildren.