Known for work with Rocky & Bullwinkle's Jay Ward
Howard Brandy, an internationally recognized PR specialist who repped hundreds of films and dozens of musical acts in his four-decade career, died Monday in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 78.
Brandy is perhaps best known for his work with Jay Ward, the creator of Rocky & Bullwinkle. The square-jawed, barrel-chested publicist served as the inspiration for Dudley Do-Right, Ward's Canadian Mountie character who did battle with Snidely Whiplash in a parody of silent film melodramas.
Brandy's wife is Rose Einstein, vp and associate publisher, sales and marketing for The Hollywood Reporter.
The Brooklyn-born Brandy got his start in the music industry, working with such teen idols as Fabian and Frankie Avalon in the 1960s. Other music acts he handled included Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Fifth Dimension, the Temptations, the Monkees, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Lionel Richie and the Captain & Tennille. He also headed publicity for A&M Records and Motown Records, among other labels.
Among the films Brandy worked on were Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" (1987), which won nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002), which collected two Oscars.
Other films included "Silent Running" (1972), "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "The Omen" (1976), "Idolmaker" (1980), "Quest for Fire" (1981), "My Favorite Year" (1982), "Gorky Park" (1983), "The Pope of Greenwich Village" (1984), "Runaway Train" (1985), "Russia House" (1990), "The Last Seduction" (1994), "About Schmidt" (2002) and the "Police Academy" films. He also did PR on the 1981 miniseries "East of Eden."
Brandy also did press for three top studio executives: Ned Tanen, Mike Medavoy and Alan Ladd.
In the book "The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, A Flying Squirrel and a Talking Moose," Brandy said he looked up Ward after stumbling upon a late-night episode of "Rocky and His Friends." He became Jay Ward Prods.' West Coast press agent in 1961.
To promote a new season of "The Bullwinkle Show," Brandy engineered a 1962 cross-country stunt to get folks to sign a petition to make Moosylvania the 51st state (Ward had bought an island off the U.S.-Canadian coast for the promotion). Brandy and Ward traveled the country in a van plastered with "Statehood for Moosylvania" propaganda, with Brandy dressing as Dudley and Ward wearing a wacky admiral outfit, and they made it to the front steps of the White House.
Brandy is survived by his and Einstein's daughter, Rebecca.
A memorial service will be held at at 11 a.m. Friday at Hillside Memorial, 6001 W. Centinela Ave. in Los Angeles.
