Larry A. Thompson (born August 1, 1944)[1] is a Hollywood film producer, personal manager, book packager, lawyer, author, motivational speaker, and candidate for United States Congress.
Thompson started his entertainment-industry career as in-house counsel for
Capitol Records. He was the youngest lawyer working for the label and negotiated separate contracts for each of the
Beatles when the group broke up.[3] By the 1970s, he was a founding partner in the entertainment law firm of Thompson, Shankman, Bond and Moss. For five years, he packaged movie and television projects and represented the careers of many prominent actors and performers. He also orchestrated the $300-million-dollar merger of
Harrah's and
Holiday Inn.[4]
When the law partnership was dissolved, Thompson created the Larry A. Thompson Organization, a company devoted to film production and the personal management of talent.[4]
Thompson and fellow lawyers
Harry E. Sloan and Larry Kuppin subsequently purchased
New World Pictures from
Roger Corman for $16.5 million[4] and immediately took the company public.[4] He sold his New World equity position in 1983[4] and refocused his attention to independent film production and talent management. He received the Vision Award in 1993.[5][6]
Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story (air date August 17, 2008) on
Lifetime Movie Network, was the highest-rated two-hour movie in that network's 10-year history.[8] In 2009, the movie garnered six
Imagen Awards nominations, of which it won two: one for Best Primetime Television Program and the other for Best Actor/Television – Hector Bustamante.[9]
Thompson produced William Shatner's one-man show on Broadway, entitled Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It...,[14] which ran at
The Music Box in New York from February 16 – March 4, 2012 and toured North America. The December 8, 2012 performance was filmed for a broadcast release.[15]
In April 2013, Thompson optioned the screenplay Missing Mona Lisa, written by Mark Hudelson, "a slightly romanticized telling of the fact-based story" of how
Vincenzo Peruggia stole
Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa, from the
Louvre in 1913.[18]
Thompson is also a book packager. He has developed books with
Joan Rivers, including a series of murder mystery novels titled The Red Carpet Murder Mysteries,[19][20]
National Conference of Personal Managers Hall of Fame Inductee [53][54][55]
Thompson was knighted in Rome, Italy on May 20, 2017.[56][57] Grand Prior, Prince Lorenzo de' Medici,[58] sponsored Thompson, an American of Italian Heritage, into the Ordine di San Martino del Monte delle Beatitudini and presided at the Investiture Mass of Knighthood at the Chiesa di
San Silvestro al Quirinale (Church of San Silvestro at Quirinal Hill)[59]
Larry A. Thompson (born August 1, 1944)[1] is a Hollywood film producer, personal manager, book packager, lawyer, author, motivational speaker, and candidate for United States Congress.
Thompson started his entertainment-industry career as in-house counsel for
Capitol Records. He was the youngest lawyer working for the label and negotiated separate contracts for each of the
Beatles when the group broke up.[3] By the 1970s, he was a founding partner in the entertainment law firm of Thompson, Shankman, Bond and Moss. For five years, he packaged movie and television projects and represented the careers of many prominent actors and performers. He also orchestrated the $300-million-dollar merger of
Harrah's and
Holiday Inn.[4]
When the law partnership was dissolved, Thompson created the Larry A. Thompson Organization, a company devoted to film production and the personal management of talent.[4]
Thompson and fellow lawyers
Harry E. Sloan and Larry Kuppin subsequently purchased
New World Pictures from
Roger Corman for $16.5 million[4] and immediately took the company public.[4] He sold his New World equity position in 1983[4] and refocused his attention to independent film production and talent management. He received the Vision Award in 1993.[5][6]
Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story (air date August 17, 2008) on
Lifetime Movie Network, was the highest-rated two-hour movie in that network's 10-year history.[8] In 2009, the movie garnered six
Imagen Awards nominations, of which it won two: one for Best Primetime Television Program and the other for Best Actor/Television – Hector Bustamante.[9]
Thompson produced William Shatner's one-man show on Broadway, entitled Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It...,[14] which ran at
The Music Box in New York from February 16 – March 4, 2012 and toured North America. The December 8, 2012 performance was filmed for a broadcast release.[15]
In April 2013, Thompson optioned the screenplay Missing Mona Lisa, written by Mark Hudelson, "a slightly romanticized telling of the fact-based story" of how
Vincenzo Peruggia stole
Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa, from the
Louvre in 1913.[18]
Thompson is also a book packager. He has developed books with
Joan Rivers, including a series of murder mystery novels titled The Red Carpet Murder Mysteries,[19][20]
National Conference of Personal Managers Hall of Fame Inductee [53][54][55]
Thompson was knighted in Rome, Italy on May 20, 2017.[56][57] Grand Prior, Prince Lorenzo de' Medici,[58] sponsored Thompson, an American of Italian Heritage, into the Ordine di San Martino del Monte delle Beatitudini and presided at the Investiture Mass of Knighthood at the Chiesa di
San Silvestro al Quirinale (Church of San Silvestro at Quirinal Hill)[59]