Bert Fields Recalled as a Loyal and Fearsome Lawyer by Hollywood Stars

Hollywood gathered Sunday to pay tribute to Bert Fields, the legendary lawyer who was in the course of excessive profile battles spanning a number of a long time. Fields died in August on the age of 93.

Amongst these paying their respects had been Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dustin Hoffman and Michael Ovitz, who every recalled him as a loyal pal. Elaine Could and Tom Cruise additionally recorded video tributes that had been performed for the viewers on the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Cruise, a longtime consumer of Fields, remembered him as “an individual who I knew I may at all times rely on.”

“I believe everyone knows how invaluable that’s on this world — when somebody says they’re going to do one thing they usually truly do it,” Cruise stated. “I’m simply very grateful to him.”

With a courtly method and a roster of high-powered shoppers, Fields developed a fame as probably the most fearsome lawyer in Hollywood. His widow, Barbara Guggenheim, stated that after his demise a pal had associated that he now felt “unprotected.”

“That’s how all of us really feel,” she stated. “Whether or not you had been Bert’s consumer or whether or not you had been a pal you at all times knew Bert was in your again pocket. And that any time of the day or evening you can pull him out and provides him a name and he would allow you to anyway he may. All of us miss that.”

One other consumer, Susan Estrich, informed the viewers that Fields “cherished standing up for each one in every of you.”

“Bert scared folks with good cause,” she stated. “With Bert on my facet, I at all times felt secure.”

Katzenberg employed Fields to symbolize him in his authorized battle with Disney, after he was fired in 1994. The authorized battle ended with a reported $250 million settlement in Katzenberg’s favor.

Every time they ate collectively after that, Katzenberg would at all times organize forward of time to choose up the verify.

“In spite of everything, he did make me wealthy,” Katzenberg recalled.

Fields turned irritated by this and finally managed to pay the verify by telling the restaurant it was Katzenberg’s birthday.

“On the finish I used to be shocked and considerably embarrassed and tried to protest because the waiters serenaded me with ‘Completely happy Birthday,’ together with cake full with candles and sparklers,” Katzenberg stated. “This was in June. My birthday is in December.”

In her recorded tribute, Could informed the story of how Fields had helped her throughout her authorized struggle with Paramount over “Mikey and Nicky,” her 1976 gangster movie. Fields maximized her leverage within the authorized struggle by contriving to cover a reduce of the movie from the studio — with out Could understanding he had executed so. She stated that the studio threatened to have her criminally prosecuted for stealing the movie.

At one level, she stated that Fields had delivered a withering line to the studio: “You wouldn’t do that to a person.”

Hoffman, a Fields consumer because the Seventies, turned choked up throughout his speech. He recalled a time when Fields had ready him for a deposition, telling him to reply tersely and to reply solely the query that was requested. As soon as within the deposition, Hoffman ignored his recommendation and instantly started to ramble. Fields requested for a break after which remonstrated him: “What the fuck had been you doing?”

Hoffman recalled that they shared lots in widespread as properly.

“He cherished an viewers,” Hoffman recalled. “He usually talked to me about how the courtroom was a type of theater. He knew his viewers. He knew easy methods to relate to them, and he knew how to connect with them emotionally and intellectually…. What I revered most was his loyalty — he was a pal, a real pal. I miss him.”

Ovitz recalled assembly Fields within the mid-Seventies, when he launched CAA. He stated he had been informed that Fields had the ability to place him out of enterprise and so he went to introduce himself and attempt to win him over. On the finish of a 15-minute assembly, he wrote Fields a verify for $5, with with the phrase “retainer” within the memo line.

“You’re now the lawyer for CAA,” Ovitz informed him. “You may by no means sue us since you’re conflicted.”

Later, he noticed that Fields had framed the verify and hung it behind his desk. They went on to collectively symbolize most of the greatest stars of the Seventies and ’80s.

“He took his apply very significantly,” Ovitz stated. “He cherished Davids. He hated Goliaths… He by no means regarded harassed. He by no means regarded like he was bothered by going right into a courtroom case. In all the a whole bunch of conferences that I sat in with him, irrespective of how tense they had been, Bert had a smile on his face. Possibly as a result of he knew he was going to win. “