Linda Duncombe, Banking Executive Turned Film Producer, Dies at 55
Linda Duncombe, City National Bank's former CMO who steered $1.8 billion in pandemic loans to Hollywood, died Sunday at 55. Two of her produced films are due for global release in 2027.
Programme
- Linda Duncombe died Sunday at 55 of stroke complications, days after a Stage 2 lung cancer diagnosis.
- She led delivery of more than $1.8 billion in PPP loans to the entertainment industry at City National Bank during the pandemic.
- She helped direct over $12 million in investments tied to Habitat for Humanity, Broadway Cares, SAG-AFTRA and the Grammy Museum.
- Her two produced films, 'The Queen's Jewels' and 'Killing Time', are planning a global release in 2027.
- Her final public appearance was Sept. 13 at MPTF's The Evening Before the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Linda Duncombe, the former chief marketing officer of City National Bank who spent her final two years as an independent film producer, died on Sunday of complications from a stroke. She was 55. Doctors had diagnosed her with Stage 2 lung cancer days before her death.
Duncombe's last public appearance came on Sept. 13 at the Motion Picture & Television Fund's The Evening Before the Primetime Emmy Awards, where she reunited with friends alongside some of Hollywood's biggest stars.
What did she build in banking and film?
During five years as CMO at City National Bank, Duncombe helped direct more than $12 million in investments tied to Habitat for Humanity, Broadway Cares, SAG-AFTRA and the Grammy Museum. When the pandemic hit, she led the bank's effort to deliver more than $1.8 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans to support the entertainment industry.
She joined City National Bank in Los Angeles in early 2019, after a career that began at Citibank in Australia in 2010 as marketing director of digital and customer experience. She rose to managing director, head of growth and chief marketing officer, then transferred to New York in 2015 as a founding member of Citi Fintech.
In her last chapter she produced two films: the family adventure "The Queen's Jewels" and the suspense thriller "Killing Time." Both are planning a global release in 2027, and Duncombe was involved in every element of production, from financing to publicity.
Born on Feb. 10, 1971, in Australia, Duncombe enrolled in Harvard Business School in 2008 and moved to the United States permanently in 2015 — first New York, then an apartment near the beach in Santa Monica. She told the magazine Beauty Is in 2025: "As a 9-year-old, I told my parents I wanted to live in New York when I grew up. My parents did not hesitate in their support of a shy, young girl's big dreams."
She added: "We lived in government housing and while we had no money, our family and home was rich in love, support and laughter."
Who is mourning her?
Variety's co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, a close friend, said: "Linda was a source of light — always smiling, laughing, gossiping (which, she'd say to her friends, 'is never gossip between us, love') and someone who adored Hollywood with all her heart."
"In the last few years, she finally realized her calling as a producer, which made her beam even more," Setoodeh said. "This is a devastating loss, and I will miss Linda so much."
Variety's publisher and co-president Dea Lawrence called her "a true warrior woman" who was "fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, and embraced life with so much passion and heart." The two met as client and publisher while Duncombe worked to keep Variety's annual Broadway breakfast afloat during COVID, an event that drew theater figures from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Rachel Zegler.
Her producing partner and best friend Josh Friedman said: "Losing Linda is going to change the lives of so many people. She made life look really easy in managing many things but remaining the most humble, kind and generous person."
Bob Beitcher, MPTF's president and CEO, said: "As a friend and adviser, she is irreplaceable, and her passing dims the light for me and for MPTF."
What is her legacy on paper?
Duncombe sat on several boards, including the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Grammy Museum, Habitat for Humanity Greater L.A. and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Variety named her to its "Most Powerful Women in Hollywood" list, and the Australian Governor General honored her with the Order of Australia Medal.
She is survived by her mother, Doreen Thompson, and nieces and nephews Shannen, Damien and Jarred.
What does this change for the two films she carried from financing to publicity? Both "The Queen's Jewels" and "Killing Time" are still slated for global release in 2027 — but they will now arrive without the producer who, by every account here, was their engine.
Original: instagram.com
More from Tom Whitfield
Show full bio
Market editor covering people, launches and day-to-day practice in arts in the broadest sense at Arts & Voices.
484 articles
