Word: hirschfield
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When David Begelman was forced out as president of Columbia Pictures, his friends in the movie industry vowed that they would get even. Last week they did. By a 6-to-l vote, the board of Columbia Pictures Industries, the parent company, fired its president and chief executive, Alan Hirschfield, 42. Begelman's allies on the board pretended that Hirschfield's dismissal from his $250,000-a-year job was not related to the dispute. Nonsense, said Hirschfield: "I lay it all on the Begelman affair...
...fall, after Begelman confessed to the board that he had embezzled $84,000 from the company by forging checks and padding his expense account, some directors wanted to keep the affair quiet. They hoped to protect Begelman, whose smash films (Close Encounters, The Deep) had saved the company. But Hirschfield insisted on suspending Begelman and revealing his wrongdoings. With that, Hirschfield lost support of the board powers, notably his longtime mentor, Investment Banker Herbert Allen. Begelman was indicted for fraud and placed on probation for three years. Even so, he has a $1.5 million three-year contract as an independent...
...replace Hirschfield, the directors set up a four-man Office of Chief Executive. Its members: Board Chairman Leo Jaffe; Financier Dan Lufkin; Matthew Rosenhaus, president of the company that makes Geritol and Sominex; and the new Columbia Pictures president, Francis T. Vincent. Until last week Vincent was an associate director of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Though Vincent himself was not involved, the SEC has been investigating Columbia Pictures...
...precisely because Begelman had rescued Columbia from the brink of bankruptcy and turned it into a moneymaker that its directors last December decided to reinstate him. A vocal dissenter had been Alan Hirschfield, president of Columbia's parent, Columbia Pictures Industries; the two men seemed formally reconciled last week, and Hirschfield spent the week in Hollywood talking with Begelman about future plans. But the Columbia directors were scheduled to meet again this week, and there was speculation that they might reconsider their decision, particularly since Columbia stock has fallen to 15% from 20% in December, before the affair burst into...
...including Producer Ray Stark and Columbia Stars Barbra Streisand and Jack Nicholson, bombarded the directors with phone calls urging Begelman's reinstatement. Late last month the majority of directors favored bringing him back as studio president (although stripped of his corporate posts of director and senior vice president). Hirschfield, who originally wanted to rehire Begelman only as an independent producer, finally relented and asked him to return as president of the movie division. Now Hirschfield appears in danger of losing his post as president of the parent corporation because of his handling of the affair. And Cliff Robertson...