RIP Lynda Obst

 

Lynda Obst Dies: Prolific ‘Sleepless In Seattle’, ‘Fisher King’ & ‘Interstellar’ Producer Was 74

DEADLINE

By Tom Tapp

October 22, 2024

 

Lynda Obst, one of the most prolific female producers in Hollywood, died Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to her brother, WME head of television Rick Rosen. She was 74.

Obst had previously been open about suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.

The producer’s long list of hit films includes Flashdance, The Fisher King, Sleepless In Seattle, One Fine Day, Contact, Hope Floats, Interstellar and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. She also executive produced TVLand’s Hot in Cleveland and had a deal at Sony Pictures Television.

“I was immensely proud of her,” Rosen said. “She was a trailblazer for women in the industry at a time when it was very difficult for women to have prominent roles. She was passionate about her work but even more passionate about her family.”

Obst grew up in suburban New York, began her career as the editor/author of The Rolling Stone History of the Sixties. She was later an editor at New York Times Magazine.

She was recruited to Hollywood by Peter Guber, for whom she developed Flashdance, Clue and Contact. In 1982 she joined The Geffen Company, where she was mentored by David Geffen and worked on Risky Business and After Hours. Thereafter, she left to partner with producer Debra Hill, forming Hill/Obst Productions at Paramount Pictures. Together, they made Adventures in Babysitting and Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King.

Obst began her solo producing career in 1989 with a deal at Columbia Pictures where she produced Nora Ephron’s directing debut This Is My Life. She went on to executive produce Ephron’s second film, Sleepless in Seattle.

She then moved to Fox where she produced The Siege, Hope Floats, One Fine Day and Someone Like You. In 1997, she executive produced Contact for Warner Bros, directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Obst subsequently shifted back again to Paramount, where she produced How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Abandon.

In 2014, she produced Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar at Warner Bros.

On the TV side, Obst executive produced NBC’s two-part miniseries The 60s. Her most recent film was the Warner Bros release The Invention of Lying. Obst soon added a television division to her company and became an EP on Hot in Cleveland.

Her nonfiction book: Hello He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches was a bestseller and later became a documentary at AMC.

The funeral will be private, the family said, but there will be a celebration of life in the coming months.

ROBST, Lynda (Lynda Rosen)

Born: 4/14/1950, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 10/22/2024, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Lynda Robst’s western – executive producer:

Bad Girls - 1994