Jennings Lang

Jennings Lang (May 28, 1915, New York City – May 29, 1996, Palm Desert, California) was an American film producer, as well as a screenwriter and actor.

Biography

Lang was born to a Jewish family in New York City, New York. Originally a lawyer, from New York City, he came to Hollywood in 1938 and set up an office as a talent agent. In 1940 he 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.

In 1951, Lang was shot in the left inner thigh by film producer Walter Wanger, who believed Lang was having an affair with his wife, actress Joan Bennett.

Lang survived, and Wanger, pleading insanity, served four months in prison. In 1956. Lang married actress-singer Monica Lewis and fathered three sons. The couple remained married until Lang's death in 1996. 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; the latter picture utilized Sensurround to augment the onscreen action with sound waves that sent tremors throughout the theater.

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 their three sons.