LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Legendary Hollywood press agent Warren Cowan, who counted Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor among his clients and virtually wrote the book on how to represent a star, died at age 87 after a fight with cancer, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
A pioneer of entertainment publicity who helped build the company Rogers & Cowan into a PR powerhouse, Cowan died on Wednesday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his family members at his side. He had been diagnosed with cancer three weeks earlier.
His career lasted more than 60 years, and his client list spanned a veritable who's who of Hollywood, with actor Paul Newman and his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, still represented by Cowan until his death.
Other notable clients over the years included Danny Kaye, Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Shirley MacLaine, Elton John, Doris Day, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, John Wayne, Bette Midler, Clint Eastwood and Audrey Hepburn.
And he served as press agent for actors-turned-politicians Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Reagan used to joke that had Cowan done a better job for his acting career he would never have had to go into politics.
Known as an innovator in the world of publicity, Cowan created events that have become routine in show business, including celebrity charity dinners and Oscar campaigns in which the stars duke it out for recognition of their work ahead of the annual film awards.
Rogers' first Academy Award campaign was Crawford's successful Oscar bid as best actress for the 1945 tearjerker
