Gene Schwam, Hollywood Publicist to Elvis and Julie Andrews, Dies at 96

Gene Schwam, the veteran Hollywood publicist who represented Elvis Presley, Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards, Barbara Eden and Lenny Bruce, died Friday in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 96.

Schwam co-founded Hanson & Schwam Public Relations with Adeline Hanson in 1955. The firm started with Smith Bros. Fish Shanty restaurant as its first client and grew into an enduring independent publicity agency, with Schwam still serving as president and co-founder decades later.

Before striking out on his own, Schwam earned $35 a week working for publicist Stanley Cowan. He teamed up with Hanson, a part-time disc jockey and publicist, to launch the agency. When the partners debated whose name should come first, Schwam wanted his own at the front. Hanson's reply settled it: "Ladies first."

Who did the agency represent?

The client roster reflected the firm's reach across music, film and nightlife:

• Elvis Presley, whose colorful representation — and what Variety called Schwam's intentional "misreputation" — dated to 1957
• Blake Edwards, director of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "10" and "Victor/Victoria"
• Singers Nancy Wilson and Lou Rawls
• The famous Coconut Grove nightclub, which helped the agency build relationships with numerous entertainers

The Presley work still resonates: Variety revisited Schwam's 1957 handling of the star in 2022, when Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" hit theaters.

Schwam's bond with Edwards went beyond business. He was a friend as well as a publicist to the director, and Edwards based the neurotic publicist character in his film "S.O.B." on him. That closeness pointed to the core of Schwam's method — passionate engagement and resourceful career guidance.

Vernon Scott, the longtime United Press International entertainment correspondent, called him "The best idea man in Hollywood." The label stuck because it captured the inventive thinking at the center of Schwam's work.

What does his career show about publicity?

Schwam's story is really a lesson in how star images got built before the internet. A publicist with strong venue relationships, clever framing and a director's ear could shape how the public saw a performer — sometimes by bending the truth, as the Presley campaign showed. That model ran through Hanson & Schwam for nearly seven decades.

Later in life, Schwam turned that same energy toward civic values. He created Humanity 101, an initiative of Arizona State University's Project Humanities promoting compassion, empathy, forgiveness, integrity, kindness, respect and self-reflection.

Schwam is survived by his wife, Myrna; his daughter, Stephanie Schwam; stepchildren Adam, Greg and Linda London; and four grandchildren. Hanson & Schwam, the firm he fought to put his name on — and lost that fight with a smile — outlasted nearly every rival from its 1955 founding.