Robert Chartoff

Beginning as a lawyer, Robert Chartoff worked his way from personal manager to agent to producer, finally becoming one of the most respected names in the film industry. His collaboration with Irwin Winkler (Chartoff-Winkler Productions) yielded both commercial blockbusters (all the "Rocky" films beginning with the Academy Award-winning Best Picture of 1976) and intelligent, critical successes like Sydney Pollack's Depression-era Shoot Horses, Don't They" (1969), Martin Scorsese's biopic of boxer Jake La Motta, "Raging Bull" (1980) and Philip Kaufman's Oscar-nominated study of the US space program "The Right Stuff" (1983). The partnership dissolved in 1985 and Chartoff subsequently formed his own company, but has only produced two rather lackluster pictures ("Beer" 1986 and "Straight Talk" 1992) without Winkler.