Robert halmi sr biography of william
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Halmi, Robert, Jr. 1957–
(Robert Halmi: Robert H. Halmi, Jr.)
PERSONAL
Born March 7, 1957, in Weston, CT; son of Robert H. Halmi (a filmmaker and studio executive); married; wife's name, Leah; children: Winter (daughter), Bela (son), Colt (son), Thomas. Education: Syracuse University, graduated, 1979; Harvard University, M.B.A.
Addresses:Office—Hallmark Entertainment Holdings, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10019.
Career: Producer, director, and studio executive. Robert Halmi Productions, began as an assistant to the producer, 1980, became associate producer, producer, and executive producer; RHI Entertainment, cofounder, 1984, then president and chief executive officer; Robert Halmi, Inc., president, c. 1985–88; Quintex, affiliate, 1990; Hallmark Entertainment Holdings, New York City, president, chief executive officer, and cochair, beginning 1994; Hallmark Entertainment Networks, founder, 1995; Crown Media Holdings, founder and board chair, 1
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Robert Halmi Sr. dies at 90; producer specialized in TV miniseries
Nobody ever accused Robert Halmi Sr. of thinking small. With more than 200 TV miniseries and films to his credit, Halmi produced sagas that were as outsized and dramatic as his own life.
Excited about the miniseries potential of Hannibal’s trip over the Alps, he was once asked where he’d find the elephants.
“That’s easy!” he said. “I already have the elephants.”
And he well might have.
At one point, Halmi, a Budapest-born impresario who introduced millions of TV viewers to classic stories like “The Odyssey,” “Don Quixote” and “Gulliver’s Travels,” owned a 1,000-acre game preserve in Kenya as well as a hus in the south of Spain, a home in London and an 89-foot yacht named “Bad Caroline,” after his wife.
He died Wednesday of a brain aneurysm at his apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village, said Russ Patrick, a family spokesman. Halmi was 90.
Halmi’s productions won 136 Emmy awards and were nominated for 480,
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Mr. Producer
Elizabeth Jensen’s paean to miniseries producer Robert Halmi Sr. (“He Has a Most Storied Life,” Oct. 31) surprised me with the accuracy of “he bluffed his way into a full-time career as a producer, starting with bread-and-butter two-hour TV movies.” It’s true. I was there.
Leon Memoli, a New York colleague of mine in the William Morris Agency, called me at the West Coast office and asked that I meet “our client,” a New York documentary producer whose only claim to fame was a syndicated show about animals.
Unlike today, where syndication dollars can mean billions, in the ‘70s syndication was the absolute nadir in the hierarchy of TV and consequently there was no one in the Beverly Hills office who would give Halmi the attention he demanded. Would I, therefore, do Memoli a favor and steer Halmi to meetings at NBC and CBS?
On the drive to NBC, Halmi told me that “we” were pitching the incredible story of Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, a Roman Catholic priest and fierce op