{{short description|American actor and film producer}} {{Infobox person |name = Jennings Lang |birth_date = {{birth date|1915|5|28}} |birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1996|5|29|1915|5|28}} |death_place = Palm Desert, California, U.S. |occupation = Film producer, screenwriter, actor |spouse = Flora Pam Freidheim (m. 1940-1952; her death); 2 sons,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rambling Reporter|author=|date=September 17, 1940|work=The Hollywood Reporter|pages=2|quote=Jennings Lang and Flora Pam, both agents, were married Saturday by Rabbi Jacob Cohen.|id={{ProQuest|514427000}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Marriages|author=|date=September 17, 1940|work=The New York Times|pages=49|quote=LANG–PAM—Mrs. Dolly Pam of Hollywood, Calif., announces the marriage of her daughter, Flora, to Jennings Lang, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lang, 210 Riverside Drive, New York, by Rabbi Cohen of Los Angeles.|id={{ProQuest|105412131}}}}</ref><ref>"California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8VN-9KD : 9 March 2021), Jenning S Bently Lang and Flora Pam Friedheim, 14 Sep 1940; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,114,457.</ref><ref name="FPFobit">Parsons, Louella O. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107037909/the-san-francisco-examiner/ "Death Takes Wife of Jenning Lang"]. ''The San Francisco Examiner''. October 23, 1952. p.&nbsp;14. "Mrs. Lang, the former Flora Pam Friedheim, was born in Memphis, Tenn., on October 27, 1911. She and Lang were married in Las Vegas on September 6, 1940. She leaves two little boys, Bobby, age 11, and Mike, age 6." Retrieved August 5, 2022.</ref><br>Monica Lewis (m. 1956-1996; his death); 1 son |children = 3, including Michael Lang<ref>Burlingame, Jon (August 5, 2022). [https://variety.com/2022/artisans/news/mike-lang-dead-jazz-pianist-1235335081/ "Mike Lang, Leading Jazz and Studio Pianist, Dies at 80"]. ''Variety''. "He was born Michael Herbert Lang on Dec. 10, 1941, in Los Angeles (but changed his name, many years later, to Michael Anthony Lang), the son of Jennings Lang, an agent who later became a producer of such Universal films as 'Earthquake' and 'Airport 1975.'" Retrieved August 5, 2022.</ref> }}

'''Jennings Lang''' (May 28, 1915, New York City – May 29, 1996, Palm Desert, California) was an American film producer,<ref name=NYT>{{cite web|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/26/movies/screen-stick-with-burt-reynolds.html|title=SCREEN: 'STICK,' WITH BURT REYNOLDS|authorlink=Janet Maslin|first=Janet|last=Maslin|date=April 26, 1985}}</ref> screenwriter, and actor.

==Early life and career== Lang was born to a Jewish family<ref>Erens, Patricia. ''The Jew in American Cinema''. {{ISBN|9780253204936}} | {{ISBN|0253204933}} | Publisher: Indiana University Press | Publish Date: August 1988 | [https://books.google.com/books?id=-v2Di_5ShGMC&dq=Jennings%20Lang&pg=PA392 p. 392]</ref> in New York City. Originally a lawyer, practicing in New York City, Lang came to Hollywood in 1938. The following spring, he set up an office as a talent agent, together with his future wife, Flora Pam.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/variety134-1939-05/page/n251/mode/2up?q=%22flora+pam%22 "Chatter: Hollywood"]. ''Variety''. May 31, 1939. p.&nbsp;45. "Flora Pam and Jennings Bentley Bang [sic] opening new talent agency." Retrieved August 6, 2022.</ref> In 1940 Lang joined the Jaffe agency and within a few years became the company's president, and came to be known as one of Hollywood's leading agents.

In 1950 he joined the MCA talent agency and two years later became vice president of MCA TV Limited; in this capacity, he worked with MCA's subsidiary Revue Productions involved in developing, creating, and selling new series in the 1950s and '60s, such as ''Wagon Train'', ''The Bob Cummings Show'', and ''McHale's Navy''.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} He produced and executive-produced movies from 1969 to 1986; in the mid-1970s, Lang produced a series of major epics, including ''Airport 1975'' and ''Earthquake''; both pictures becoming major blockbusters in the disaster film genre.<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|0485786}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1940, Lang married fellow publicist Flora Pam Friedheim, with whom he fathered two sons, including jazz pianist/studio musician Mike Lang. In December 1951, Lang was shot in the left inner thigh by film producer Walter Wanger,<ref>Autobiography of Monica Lewis: "Hollywood Through My Eyes" (Brule, WI, Cable Publishing, 2011) p. 162<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> who believed Lang was having an affair with his wife, actress Joan Bennett.<ref name=LAT121451>*{{cite news| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=December 14, 1951| title=Joan Bennett Sees Mate Shoot Agent: 'Thought He Was Breaking Up My Home,' Says Wanger| url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/image/381314414/?terms=Joan%2BBennett%2BSees%2BMate%2BShoot%2BAgent| url-access=subscription | page=1| access-date=July 22, 2020}}{{cite news |title=Hollywood Actors' Agent Is Shot; Joan Bennett's Husband Questioned; Hollywood Actors' Agent Is Shot; Joan Bennett's Husband Questioned Producer in Financial Trouble |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/14/archives/hollywood-actors-agent-is-shot-joan-bennetts-husband-questioned.html |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=The New York Times | url-access=subscription |date=14 December 1951}} </ref> Lang survived, and Wanger, pleading insanity, served four months in prison.<ref>"Wanger Fate Will Rest on Transcript: Producer to Escape Open Trial by Letting Judge Decide Case on Grand Jury Evidence". ''Los Angeles Times'', April 15, 1952, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Wanger to Be Released From County Jail Today". ''Los Angeles Times'', September 13, 1952, p. A 1.</ref> Although Mrs. Lang publicly supported her husband,<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=107125267 "Joan Bennett Denies Love Tryst With Agent"]. ''The San Francisco Examiner''. December 15, 1951. p.&nbsp;5. Retrieved August 22, 2022.</ref> one reporter who had covered the original scandal, Will Fowler,<ref>Weinstock, Matt (January 3, 1952). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=107125876 "Miracle Men"]. ''Los Angeles Daily News''. p.&nbsp;24. Retrieved August 7, 2022.</ref> recalled: <blockquote>But the one person who was only fleetingly mentioned in the torrid front page affair, the one who publicly stated that she refused to believe her husband had been unfaithful, Mrs. Pam Lang, was driven into deep depression and a few months after the story quieted down, she died of a heart attack.<ref>Fowler, Will (1991). ''Reporters: Memoir of a Young Newspaperman''. Malibu, CA: Roundtable Publishing. pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/reportersmemoirs00fowl/page/307/mode/2up?q=%22i+suppose+the+only+climax%22 289–307]. {{ISBN|0-915677-61-X}}.</ref><ref name="FPFobit"/></blockquote> In 1956 Lang married actress-singer Monica Lewis and fathered one more son. The couple remained married until Lang's death in 1996.

==Last years and death== A stroke in 1983 forced Lang's retirement. He died of pneumonia in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. Lang was survived by his wife Monica Lewis and three sons, two by his previous marriage.<ref name="imdb"/>

==Filmography== ===Producer=== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} * ''Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here'' (1969) * ''Act of the Heart'' (1970) * ''The Beguiled'' (1971) * ''They Might Be Giants'' (1971) * ''Play Misty for Me'' (1971) * ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1972) * ''The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid'' (1972) * ''Pete 'n' Tillie'' (1972) * ''High Plains Drifter'' (1973) * ''Charley Varrick'' (1973) * ''Breezy'' (1973) * ''Airport 1975'' (1974) * ''Earthquake'' (1974) {{col-2}} * ''The Front Page'' (1974) * ''Swashbuckler'' (1976) * ''Airport '77'' (1977) * ''Rollercoaster'' (1977) * ''House Calls'' (1978) * ''Nunzio'' (1978) * ''The Concorde ... Airport '79'' (1979) * ''House Calls'' (1979, TV series) * ''The Nude Bomb'' (1980) * ''Little Miss Marker'' (1980) * ''Masada'' (1981, TV miniseries) * ''The Sting II'' (1983) * ''Stick'' (1985)<ref name=NYT/> {{col-end}}

===Presenter=== * ''Play Misty for Me'' (1971) * ''The Eiger Sanction'' (1975)

===Screenwriter=== * ''The Concorde ... Airport '79'' (1979)

===Actor=== * ''Real Life'' (1979)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== Fowler, Will (1991). ''Reporters: Memoir of a Young Newspaperman''. Malibu, CA: Roundtable Publishing. {{ISBN|0-915677-61-X}}. pp.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/reportersmemoirs00fowl/page/307/mode/2up?q=%22i+suppose+the+only+climax%22 289–307].

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0485786}} * [https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800072794 Jennings Lang] at Yahoo! Movies

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Jennings}} Category:1915 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Film producers from California Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:Jewish American screenwriters Category:Burials at Desert Memorial Park Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Screenwriters from New York (state) Category:Film producers from New York (state) Category:Screenwriters from California Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:20th-century American Jews