Marvin Worth

Worth's career began at a very early age when he began promoting jazz concerts, which led to relationship with many artists. At one time, he managed the musical careers of Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. Later, Worth's employment as an agent branched into comedy, and he took on contentious comedian Lenny Bruce. In the 1950s, he forged a partnership with Arne Sultan and began writing material for Bruce. The duo went on to pen the scripts for Three on a Couch and Boys' Night Out and the story for Promise Her Anything. In 1958, Worth won a Peabody Award for his writing on The Steve Allen Show.[1]

In 1971, Worth brought the story of Lenny Bruce to Broadway in the production Lenny, which won a Tony Award for its star, Cliff Gorman.(Internet Broadway Database) [1][2] In 1974 the movie version of Lenny directed by Bob Fosse was released and received multiple Academy Award nominations. For the remainder of his career, Worth continued to produce biopics including the 1979 film The Rose (loosely based on Janis Joplin), the 1996 television movie Norma Jean & Marilyn, the 1998 television movie Gia, and the 2001 television movie James Dean.

Worth was married to his wife Joan, an artist, for 44 years. They had three children.[3] On April 22, 1998, Worth died of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, a form of lung cancer, in Los Angeles.[4]

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

• Marvin Worth at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marvin Worth at IMDb
• Marvin Worth at AllMovie
• Marvin Worth at Find a Grave