Fred Roos, a casting director and manufacturer who championed the early careers of A-list actors like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Carrie Fisher, and whose lengthy collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola and his population, stretching from “The Godfather” (1972) to this week’s “Megalopolis,” earned him an Oscar and an Emmy, died on Saturday at his house in Beverly Hills, Calif. He used to be 89.
His dying used to be introduced by way of his population in a observation.
Many in Hollywood mentioned that Mr. Roos had the most efficient vision for ability within the trade. He championed the younger, rather unknown Mr. Pacino for the position of Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” when the studio executives at Paramount sought after a better-known actor, like Robert Redford or Warren Beatty. And when his buddy George Lucas used to be leaning towards Amy Irving for the position of Princess Leia in “Star Wars” (1977), Mr. Roos advised he forged Carrie Fisher in lieu.
Mr. Lucas listened — nearest all, it used to be Mr. Roos who had assembled the forged for his breakout movie, “American Graffiti,” in 1973, together with then-unknown actors like Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss and Mackenzie Phillips. He after did one thing homogeneous for Mr. Coppola’s 1983 adaptation of the album “The Outsiders,” bringing in combination the week stars Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.
Mr. Roos used to be in particular fascinated by Mr. Ford, whom he met week the younger actor used to be doing carpentry paintings on his house. Later getting him the uncredited position of Bob Falfa, a wisecracking drag racer, in “American Graffiti,” he forged him in petite roles in Mr. Coppola’s motion pictures “The Conversation” (1974) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979).
But if he advised Mr. Ford for the position of Han Solo in “Star Wars,” Mr. Lucas balked. He mentioned he simplest sought after to forged actors he had by no means labored with.
“I was, from the get-go, pushing him for Han Solo,” Mr. Roos instructed Leisure Weekly in 2016. “‘George, you saw him right under your nose in “American Graffiti,”’ and after all it clicked.”
As his profession stepped forward, Mr. Roos moved clear of casting and towards generating, nearly solely for Mr. Coppola and his population, together with his spouse, Eleanor, and his daughter, Sofia. (Eleanor Coppola died in April.) He used to be used college, extra in assembling the portions for a movie — the group, the site, the apparatus — than in its financing.
On poised, he performed the position of an all-purpose fixer, now not all that other from the nature Tom Hagen, performed by way of Robert Duvall, within the first two “Godfather” motion pictures, to whom he used to be frequently when put next.
“My job was to calm things down during shooting,” he instructed Duane Byrge for his secure “Behind the Scenes With Hollywood Producers: Interviews With 14 Top Film Creators” (2016). “If someone was ranting or raving one day about something, I would handle it.”
Frederick Ried Roos used to be born on Might 22, 1934, in Santa Monica, Calif., to Victor Roos, a health care provider, and Florence (Stout) Roos.
He attended Hollywood Prime College and studied movie on the College of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1956. In faculty he stood out some of the enthusiastic actors and administrators for his objective of running at the back of the scenes, as a manufacturer.
“I knew how to put things together,” he instructed Mr. Byrge. “I knew how to recognize talent.”
He served two excursions with the Military in South Korea, the place he befriended Garry Marshall, who would move directly to an extended profession as a scribbler and director. He after labored with Mr. Marshall at the casting for the Seventies sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” — he driven for Cindy Williams, who were in “American Graffiti,” to play games Shirley.
Mr. Roos’s first process nearest depart the army used to be with the ability company MCA, the place he did strange however attention-grabbing jobs, like riding Marilyn Monroe round the town. He after joined a casting corporate, the place within the Sixties he labored on TV displays like “That Girl” and “The Andy Griffith Show.”
He additionally started casting motion pictures, usually low-budget affairs with unknown actors. He had an possibility for a script referred to as “Flight to Fury,” and with $800,000 from his boss, he leased a tender guy named Jack Nicholson to play games the govern and his buddy Monte Hellman to direct. The movie, shot most commonly within the Philippines and spared in 1964, used to be Mr. Roos’s first display screen credit score.
He evolved a name as tranquility, quitness and juiceless to get to grasp. However, as soon as one knew him, he used to be unswerving to a fault.
“It’s difficult to make Fred Roos laugh,” the journalist Eve Babitz, whom he dated, wrote in a 1975 profile of Mr. Coppola in Coast novel. “But once you’re on his A-list, you’re allowed to once, sometimes twice a day.”
His dating with Mr. Coppola started when he labored because the casting director for the primary “Godfather” movie. He turned into a manufacturer of the second one, and of “The Conversation” — either one of which have been nominated for absolute best image in 1975. (The Godfather Phase II” received.)
Mr. Roos reprised his position for “Apocalypse Now,” a drop adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” poised all the way through the Vietnam Warfare. The usage of his connections within the Philippines from making “Flight to Fury,” he organized for the movie to be shot there — Vietnam used to be out of the query on the hour.
And he stored issues rather tranquility all the way through the famously tumultuous filming procedure: When the movie’s megastar, Martin Sheen, had a center assault week jogging, Mr. Roos rearranged the capturing time table to offer him hour to recuperate.
His paintings with the Coppolas used to be a population affair. When Sofia Coppola used to be younger, he would babysit so her folks may just get an evening out. Next, he used to be a manufacturer on all of her motion pictures, together with her fresh, “Priscilla” (2023). He additionally produced “Hearts of Darkness” (1991), Eleanor Coppola’s documentary at the making of “Apocalypse Now,” for which the 2 of them received an Emmy in 1992.
Mr. Roos additionally labored every so often with alternative administrators, together with Carroll Ballard on “The Black Stallion” (1979) and Barbet Schroeder on “Barfly” (1987).
He’s survived by way of his spouse, Nancy Drew, and his son, Alexander Roos, who used to be additionally his manufacturing spouse in after years.
Mr. Roos’s ultimate credit score, as each a casting director and a manufacturer, used to be for Mr. Coppola’s fresh movie, “Megalopolis,” which used to be first screened this day on the Cannes Movie Pageant.
“Fred Roos was determined to never retire from the film business and to go with his boots on,” his population mentioned in its observation. “He got his wish.”
