Entertainment & Sports
May 30, 2001
Tangled, Temporal, Legal Legacy Ends for Begelman
LOS ANGELES - Somewhere, the ghost of David Begelman is smiling. Meanwhile, his accountant here on earth has reason for a rueful chuckle or two. Begelman, the troubled movie mogul who committed suicide in 1995, is grinning in the Great Beyond because his tangled temporal legal legacy is finally over - with some surprising and perhaps gratifying results.
LOS ANGELES - Somewhere, the ghost of David Begelman is smiling.
Meanwhile, his accountant here on earth has reason for a rueful chuckle or two.
Begelman, the troubled movie mogul who committed suicide in 1995, is grinning in the Great Beyond because his tangled temporal legal legacy is finally over - with some surprising and perhaps gratifying results.
Veteran Los Angeles litigator Ronald M. Greenberg, who is of-counsel at Berkes Crane Robinson & Seal, telephoned me to say that he wrapped up the final piece of the Begelman legal mess about 10 days ago.
Greenberg explained that the tidying up included the last details of a case tried before a Los Angeles Superior Court in March. Both sides in SK Films Ltd v. Gladden Productions agreed to drop all post-trial maneuvering, including appeals, Greenberg said.
In that action, Greenberg represented Fred Altman, Begelman's one-time accountant. A former partner of Begelman's, financier Sidney Kimmel, had accused Altman of fraudulent concealment in connection with $1.9 million allegedly misappropriated by Begelman, a legendary free-spender who kept up a glitzy front even when there was no food in the refrigerator in his Beverly Hills mansion.
Begelman, at one time the respected head of Columbia Pictures, where he greenlighted movies such as "Shampoo" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," probably is best remembered for a crash-and-burn 1970s check forgery and embezzlement scandal that had all Hollywood in a tizzy. Ultimately, a judge sentenced Begelman, one of the most powerful people in the movie business, to three years' probation for forging signatures on $75,000 worth of checks, including a $10,000 payment to actor Cliff Robertson.
Following the scandal, Begelman rehabilitated himself somewhat. He even resumed his job at Columbia briefly. But by the time he put a gun to his head in Room 1081 of the Century Plaza Hotel on Aug. 7, 1995, Begelman, 73, was again on the verge of disgrace and, possibly, another set of criminal charges.
Before the suicide, Kimmel had filed suit against Begelman and his production company, Gladden Productions. Kimmel believed that Begelman had spent most of Kimmel's investment - the disputed $1.9 million - on his lavish lifestyle.
More ominously, Begelman supposedly was under investigation for his links to former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, whose financial empire was collapsing at the time. [Ironically, McNall left federal prison in March after serving a four-year sentence.]
After Begelman's death, Kimmel and his attorneys fingered Altman and Begelman's law firm, now named Greenberg Glusker Claman Fields Machtinger & Kinsella, in the alleged theft, as well as a consultant retained by Kimmel to help him navigate the shoals of the entertainment business.
To cut to the chase, all but one of the flurry of suits and countersuits spawned by Begelman's death was settled or dropped over the last six years, according to Greenberg. The last man standing was his client Altman, who refused to have his name besmirched, Greenberg said.
The Altman portion of the complicated litigation went to trial on Feb. 27 and lasted two weeks. Throughout the trial, Begelman figured prominently. After two days of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict on March 16.
On all nine causes of action, ranging from conversion to conspiracy, the jury found that Altman had done no wrong and could not be blamed for assisting in the vaporization of the $1.9 million.
Interestingly, jurors declined on the verdict form to find that "Gladden Productions, Inc. and/or David Begelman" wrongfully converted the money. Rather, jurors agreed with the contention that the money had been paid as advances to Begelman.
Altman's "name and reputation certainly were vindicated by that jury verdict," Greenberg said.
He added that the jury supplied one final twist after delivering the verdict.
"I think the bigger surprise is that, when the jury was polled, only four of the 12 thought David Begelman had done anything wrong," Greenberg said.
While the jurors' opinions probably won't do much to rehabilitate Begelman's reputation, they show that time dims all controversies.
Greenberg pointed out that, when Begelman killed himself, he was trying to produce movies titled "A Criminal Mind" and "As Dreamers Do."
"I think both of those captured David Begelman," Greenberg said. "I just think he believed that a big hit was out there and it was going to bail him out. And he ran out of time."
So do we all.
Garry Abrams
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