Ezra N. Swerdlow Dies: New York Producer With Long List Of Credits Was 64

Ezra N. Swerdlow Dies: New York Producer With Long List Of Credits Was 64

Ezra N. Swerdlow, a New York producer whose credits included Stardust Memories, Arthur, King of Comedy, and Tootsie, has died. He passed from complications from pancreatic cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Boston on January 23 at the age of 64.

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Swerdlow grew up in Great Neck, LI. He studied political theory at Rutgers and seemed on a trajectory to become a historian, following the path of his mother, Amy, who was the head of Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence College.

But in 1979, a summer job altered the course of Swerdlow’s life. He was hired by a friend as a location scout on the Woody Allen film Stardust Memories, and he never looked back. Swerdlow went from scout to location manager to UPM to producer, amassing over thirty producing credits.

Although he briefly moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, where he worked with Mel Brooks on Spaceballs, Swerdlow was a New York production guy through and through, coming up at the tail end of the golden age of 1970s New York filmmaking.

His first four credits were Stardust Memories, Arthur, King of Comedy, and Tootsie. Swerdlow was at the center of all aspects of New York film production. His career ultimately spanned nearly four decades and included movies such as Spaceballs, Hannah and her Sisters, Waiting to Exhale, Wag the Dog, Enchanted, Zombieland, 21 Jump Street, and Equalizer.

In 2011 Swerdlow was nominated for an Emmy award for producing the HBO movie Too Big To Fail.

Swerdlow was known as a fair, compassionate and talented producer who put the film first and looked out for both the filmmaker and the crew.

He is survived by his wife Lindsey, his son Nick, daughter-in-law Caroline, his sisters Joan and Lisa, brother-in-law Rob, his brother Tommy, and many loving nieces and nephews.