Henry and Roz Rogers

Born to a Jewish family,[1] Henry Rogers founded an independent public relations firm in 1935 and with his partner Warren Cowan, which became Rogers and Cowan. Crediting him with being the founder of modern-day publicity, the New York Times wrote, "Henry C. Rogers transformed the seedy world of the Hollywood press agent into a plush-carpet profession. Rogers was known as the man who elevated industry ethical standards, particularly through his insistence that public relations professionals had as much responsibility to the news media as they did to their clients."[2]

Henry Rogers created the now famous Oscar campaign for Joan Crawford when he turned her from “box office poison” to an Oscar winner for best actress in a leading role for her performance in “Mildred Pierce.” The NY Times wrote, “Mr. Rogers, who was credited with making Rita Hayworth a household name and with creating the sweeping publicity campaigns that have become a fixture of the annual quest for Academy Awards, became almost as well known in Hollywood as the famous clients” who included Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Danny Kaye, Rex Harrison, Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas, Liz Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Olivia de Havilland, Jane Wyatt and Jane Wyman. Later expanding into international and corporate PR, representing Fortune 500 companies and earning the prestigious appointment as Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh’s, first ever publicist.[2]

Rogers stood firm against the House Un-American Activities Committee. Rogers walked away from his long established relationship with John Wayne to stand in solidarity with friends and clients who were being accused by the HUAC, like Carl Foreman. Rogers worked with the Committee for the First Amendment and his friend William Wyler to create the “flight of the stars” aboard Howard Hughes's plane bound for Washington DC and the HUAC hearings. The stars Rogers flew with included Ira Gershwin, Gene Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball, Lauren Bacall, John Huston, Philip Dunne and Danny Kaye. En route, they stopped at airfields in cities across the country to share their concerns with average Americans who came to greet them. Eventually, they landed in Washington, where they sat in the audience of HUAC hearings in respectful protest for several days. On October 26, 1947, the day before the Hollywood 10 testified, the CFA broadcast a national radio program called "Hollywood Fights Back!", featuring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster and William Holden.[3][4]

Henry’s wife Rosalind (Roz) Rogers (née Jaffe) founded the west coast’s first women’s political action committee, Women FOR. Roz championed the likes of Mayor Tom Bradley, Governor Pat Brown, Senator Alan Cranston, Rosalind Wiener Wyman and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Rosalind’s aunt, Adeline Schulberg (sister of film producer Sam Jaffe and wife of Paramount head BP Schulberg) inspired her activism. Ad Schulberg was the first female agent to own her own agency (representing the likes of Marlene Dietrich) and a relentless activist (who founded a progressive school, promoted the family court, and organized birth control clinics throughout the West and an “underground railroad” in London for refugee talent from Nazi-occupied Europe). Ad and BP’s son was Roz’s favorite cousin, Oscar-winning screenwriter, Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront, A Face in the Crowd, What Makes Sammy Run). Budd stayed in Roz and Henry’s guesthouse when in Los Angeles. Another famous resident of their guesthouse was Mikhail Baryshnikov, shortly after defecting from the Soviet Union.[5]

Roz Rogers is believed to have influenced the beginnings of serious art collecting in Los Angeles. She championed and befriended emerging artists such as Robert Graham (sculptor), Ed Ruscha and Sam Francis. The centerpiece of her own collection included a rare Calder mobile. LACMA frequently organized member visits to Henry and Roz’s home on Cliffwood Avenue in Brentwood.[6]

The first of the Hollywood insiders to settle in Brentwood, the Rogers’s home was the setting for glamorous soirees in Hollywood. Their friends and guests include not only the leading actors of the time but also the players shaping the political and art scene. Close friends included Irving Wallace, Charles Wick, Jack Valenti, Gordon Davidson, Sidney Harman, Franklin Schaffner, Lew Wasserman, Milton Sperling, Gregory Peck, Norman Lear, Carl Reiner and Roz’s best friend, Audrey Hepburn.[6]

Rosalind Rogers died of heart failure on November 22, 2013[7]

Roz Rogers’s uncle Sam Jaffe was the famed producer and agent who represented Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton, Stanley Kubrick and David Niven. Sam's wife, Mildred, Roz's aunt, was the sister of Phil Gersh, who got his start as an agent with Sam and later founded The Gersh Agency, a highly successful agency with major movie actors, writers and directors as clients.[8]The grandson of Sam Jaffe is today’s president of Columbia Pictures Sony, Matt Tolmach. Matt is responsible for such franchise hits as Spider-Man.

Roz and Henry had two children, Marcia and Ron. Marcia Goddard Medavoy Ross had two children from her first marriage to Mark Goddard and was then married for 15 years to Mike Medavoy, and has since remarried. Ron Rogers married Lisa Specht. Ron is the founder of one of the largest PR firms in California, The Roger Group, and is a vice-chair of the board of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, a board member of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, a founding board member of the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research, founding member of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, founding chair of the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and for 25 years has been on the board of the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He has also served on the boards of Coro and Outward Bound. Lisa Specht is a partner at Mannat, Phelps & Phillips whose various civic assignments have included chairing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and serving as a City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commissioner.[9]

Roz and Henry Rogers' granddaughter is producer Melissa Goddard (Poison Ivy, Big Girls Don't Cry They Get Even and What Women Want). Their grandson is Michael Goddard who was featured in several high profile articles in such as The New Yorker, NY Times, LA Times and Los Angeles Magazine) for his unique role as manager of The Grill in Beverly Hills.[10]

Henry Rogers was chairman of the Center Theatre Group and was a board member of the Performing Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Music Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the American Council for the Arts. He was a vice-chairman of the American Film Institute and chairman of an advisory committee to the U.S. Information Agency. He was also on the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.[11]

Henry Rogers wrote four books including Walking the Tightrope: The Private Confessions of a Public Relations Man (ISBN 0688035892), Rogers' Rules for Success (ISBN 031268830X), Rogers' Rules for Businesswomen: How to Start a Career and Move Up the Ladder (ISBN 0312010818) and The One-Hat Solution: Rogers's Strategy for Creative Middle Management (ISBN 0312585241). Rogers was posthumously honored with the creation of a scholarship fund at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.