Mark Damon (born Alan Harris; April 22, 1933 – May 12, 2024) was an American film producer and actor. In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for his performance in Roger Corman's House of Usher, and later moved to Italy to work in Spaghetti Westerns. He was a member of the 1960s Dolce Vita set of actors and actresses in Rome. During the early 1970's he switched to producing films, founding the production companies Producers Sales Organization, Vision International, MDP Worldwide and Foresight Unlimited.

Early life

Mark Damon, the son of a grocer, was born Alan Harris in Chicago. His family was Jewish and their surname was originally "Herscovitz". Damon moved to Los Angeles at a young age where he attended Fairfax High School.

As a senior in high school, Damon was scouted as an actor by comedian Groucho Marx, but chose to attend dental school at UCLA. He switched to the Anderson School of Management, eventually graduating with an MBA and a BA in English. Damon also began taking theater classes and decided to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Actor

In 1956, Damon started his career in Hollywood, signing a contract with 20th Century Fox. In 1960, Damon won a Golden Globe Award as a "Star of Tomorrow" for his performance in the film House of Usher. He would later relocate to Italy to work in Spaghetti Westerns.

Producer

In the mid-1970s Damon left acting to become a film producer. He entered the world of independent sales and production while in Italy after meeting independent international distributors interested in popular American movies.

Upon returning to the U.S. in 1977, he founded Producers Sales Organization (PSO), which sold American pictures to international distributors, becoming the first such company to compete with the major studios. Damon's subsequent success with PSO led to his reputation as the inventor of the foreign sales business. After PSO ran into financial problems and was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1986, Damon started Vision Productions (formerly Vision Producers and Distribution Group) with Peter Guber and Jon Peters.

In 1987, Vision International grew into Vision p.d.g. Vision International formed a pact with Epic Productions, where they assumed international responsibilities for the studio.

In 1993, after a period of legal battling with Credit Lyonnais over the company's control of Epic, Damon started MDP Worldwide (aka Mark Damon Productions), which in 1998 was sold to Behaviour Communications, a Canadian company. In 2003, MDP Worldwide was renamed Media 8 Entertainment to expand their theatrical activity and their products. Damon resigned in 2004.

Damon's productions have grossed over $2 billion in theatrical box office worldwide and have garnered 10 Oscar nominations. He has been involved in the international licensing of over 300 feature length pictures, including Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery, Prizzi's Honor with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston, Once Upon A Time In America with Robert De Niro and James Woods, The Cotton Club with Richard Gere, and The Final Countdown starring Kirk Douglas. Damon was a founding member of the American Film Marketing Association (now IFTA) and is a recurring board member of the IFTA.

In 2005, Damon founded the film production and sales company Foresight Unlimited. Foresight handled the international sales for the Rob Reiner comedy And So It Goes, served as executive producer of Universal Studios' 2 Guns starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, and Universal's Lone Survivor, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The company was sold to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in 2019. In 2019, DCR Finance Group launched a $100 million film fund to produce their film organization, with Damon serving as managing partner.

Personal life and death

Damon died of natural causes in Los Angeles in 2024, at the age of 91, with his wife, actress Margaret Markov, and two children by his side. He was a cousin to composer Danny Elfman.

Filmography

References

External links

• Foresight Unlimited

• From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster: The Neverending Story of Film Pioneer Mark Damon