Elliott Kastner

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Elliott Kastner (born 7 January 1930) is a Jewish American film producer, most famously of the war film Where Eagles Dare. He is the second husband of the interior designer Tessa Kennedy.

Among the many films produced by Kastner are: Harper (1966), The Night of the Following Day (1968), The Long Goodbye (1973), Cops and Robbers (1973), 11 Harrowhouse (1974), Dogpound Shuffle (1974), Rancho Deluxe (1975), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), 92 In The Shade (1975), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Swashbuckler (1976), The Stickup (1976), Black Joy (1977), Equus (1977), The Big Sleep (1978), A Little Night Music (1978), The First Deadly Sin (1980), Man, Woman and Child (1983), Oxford Blues (1984), Garbo Talks (1984), Angel Heart (1987), A Chorus of Disapproval (1988), Opa! (2005).

Kastner got his education at the University of Miami and Columbia. During the fifties he was stationed with U.S. Eucom (United States European Command), in Frankfurt, Germany and then Paris, France. He started out in the business as a talent agent at the Music Corporation of America (MCA). When that agency was dissolved his first assignment as producer came in 1965, with Bus Riley's Back in Town (Universal). He was also one of the first American producers to permanently switch his base of operations to Europe. Once in London he formed Winkast Film Productions Ltd. with producer Jerry Gershwin based at Pinewood Studios. Gershwin and Kastner would produce Where Eagles Dare (1968) and When Eight Bells Toll (1971) both based on Alistair MacLean novels. He then partnered up with noted producers Alan Ladd Jr. and Jay Kanter and together they produced the films Villain (1971), The Nightcomers (1972), Zee and Co. (1972) and Fear Is the Key (1972). Kastner is probably most famous for his productions of Raymond Chandler's books, like The Long Goodbye (1973), Farewell My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978). He also made three movies with Marlon Brando: The Night of the Following Day (1968),The Nightcomers (1972) and Missouri Breaks (1976) and five with Richard Burton: Where Eagles Dare (1968) Villain (1971) Equus (1977) Absolution (1978) and The Medusa Touch (1978)