Jim TauberLong-time film director and president of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment for a decade after working at FoxPropaganda Films, Columbia TriStar and elsewhere, died of multiple myeloma. He was 74 years old. His family confirmed the news but did not provide a date of death.
Tauber served as president and chief operating officer of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment from 2005 to 2015, overseeing around thirty films for the company. His SKE credits include Best Picture nominee Hell or High Water, The Place Beyond the Pines, Death at a Funeral, Lars and the Real Girl And The Kite Runner, Parle-moi, Breach, Age of Adaline and Synecdoche, New York.
“I was Art and Jim was Commerce, and I like to think we complimented each other,” friend and collaborator Bill Horberg, president emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, East, told Deadline. Horberg, who made 13 films with Tauber. “He had a wonderful, funny sense of humor – a godsend in a business containing so much nonsense.”
Tauber retired from SKE in 2015.
“I really enjoyed working with Jim,” Sydney Kimmel said when Tauber retired. “He successfully oversaw all of our productions for a decade and played a key role in our success and growth. »
Tauber said on his retirement: “Working with Sidney was a highlight of my career. This change has been a dream of mine for a long time, and Sidney has been supportive beyond belief as I pursue this new chapter in my professional life.
Before joining Kimmel, Tauber held high-level positions at several showbiz companies. He served as global executive vice president of acquisitions and co-productions at 20th Century Fox, president and COO of Propaganda Films, and then held the same position at Anonymous Content after the sale of Propaganda.
Earlier in his career, Tauber was senior vice president of acquisitions and business/legal affairs at Columbia TriStar Pictures, overseeing acquisitions and sales agreements as well as the production of more than 50 feature films, including the Palme winner Gold in Cannes. sex, lies and video and Sundance successes The water dance And Gas food accommodation.
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At Propaganda, Tauber produced 30 films, including Being John Malkovich And Wild at heart and helped launch the distribution company Gramercy Pictures.
After retiring from the industry, Tauber, a licensed psychotherapist, went into practice with his wife, Laura Newman. In 2022, the couple launched Lefty’s Coffee, a Los Olivos cafe built around ethical sourcing and sustainability.
Raised in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, Tauber attended the Woodstock festival in 1969. an article he wrote for StoriedStuff.com – he “shared joints with the Grateful Dead” and, while trying to hitchhike home that Monday morning, watched Jimi Hendrix perform his medley punctuated by “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Along with his wife, Tauber is survived by their daughters J. Lucy, Dixie and Zazu and his sister Joanie. A private funeral is planned, with a celebration of life to be held at a later date.