Fred Weintraub


Fred Robert Weintraub was an American film and television producer and writer.

Career

Background

Weintraub was the original owner and host of The Bitter End in New York City's Greenwich Village. Weintraub discovered such acts as Peter, Paul and Mary, Lenny Bruce, Randy Newman and The Isley Brothers. The club also featured early performances of Neil Diamond, Woody Allen, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Ricky Nelson, Nina Simone, Dustin Hoffman, Charles Aznavour, Lily Tomlin, Stevie Wonder, Kris Kristofferson, Joni Mitchell, George Carlin, Bob Dylan, Harry Chapin, Bill Cosby and Phil Ochs. During the early 1960s The Bitter End hosted "Open Mike" Hootenannies every Tuesday night, showcasing young, old, known and unknown folksingers.

Films and television

Moving west in the mid 1960s, Weintraub created, wrote, and produced several television shows including Hootenanny and Dukes of Hazzard. Beginning with Rage then Enter the Dragon Weintraub produced dozens of movies, many with a martial arts theme, as well as directing a documentary on Bruce Lee, .
In 1970 Weintraub became an Executive Vice President of Warner Bros. One of the first films he oversaw for the studio was Woodstock. In 1972 he became an independent producer, and made a number of adventure films, including Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee.
One of Weintraub's documentary films was It's Showtime which consisted of film clips profiling various animal actors, such as Rin Tin Tin, Flipper, Trigger, and Asta, with commentary from the actors who worked with them, and including footage of James Cagney, Jimmy Durante, Cary Grant, Maureen O'Sullivan, Dick Powell, Ronald Reagan, and Mickey Rooney working with animal stars.

Other work

In 2011, Weintraub published his memoir, Bruce Lee, Woodstock and Me, along with collaborator David Fields, recalling his fifty-year career in the entertainment industry.

Filmography

Narration films

Documentaries films

Television

Death

Fred Weintraub died on March 5, 2017 in his Pacific Palisades home due to natural causes related to Parkinson's disease. He was 88.
He is survived by his beloved wife Jackie; children Sandra, Barbara, Max and Zachary; and four grandchildren.