Today we are celebrating the birthday of a true trail-blazer. Born in San Antonio in 1926, Marcia Nasatir shattered the glass ceiling of Hollywood when she became the first female Vice President of United Artists in 1974. Today, the inspirational Marcia Nasatir celebrates her 95th birthday.
Photo: Rotten Tomatoes
While growing up in San Antonio, she attended Agnes Cotton Elementary, Mark Twain Jr High, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1943.
Weekends were spent with her friends going to the movies mainly at the Uptown Theater on the corner of Fredericksburg Road and W. Ashby Pl. but she also frequented the films showing at the Aztec Theater and the Majestic Theater.
Photo: Uptown Theater cinematreasures.org
However, she said her favorite thing to do while growing up was reading, saying that books are the key to her life.
Her dreams and her passion for reading initially took her to New York where she worked in publishing, and then to Los Angeles and Hollywood, where she acted as an agent selling books to the big movie production companies in the 1960’s.
Photo: KENS 5
Marcia became noticed in a male-dominated world, and was offered a role at United Artists as a Story Editor. However, true to her nature, she declined, and said she would not join the company unless it was in a VP role. Up until then there were no female VP’s in the movie business, but this did not deter her, or her professional goals. In 1974, the studio eventually relented, and Marcia became the Vice President of Production at United Artists, paving the way for women in the future of the film business.
Later, she was unceremoniously dismissed, but fought back to forge a career as an independent producer. Her career continued to flourish, and her influence within the industry grew even stronger.
Throughout her career, she gained a reputation as a movie pioneer for her work on such films as “Apocalypse Now”, “Carrie”, “Rocky” and “Coming Home”, “The Big Chill”, “Hamburger Hill”, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Ironweed” “Annie Hall” and “Three Days of the Condor”
However, one “battle” she did lose was over the film “Rocky”. She did not like the name, and wanted to call the movie “The Contender”…but in this case, she was over-ruled. Despite this, the film was made on a budget of $1.1 million, grossed over $225 million, winning 3 Academy Awards…and Marcia Nasatir was a driving force in it’s incredible success.
Later, while working for Johnny Carson, she spent a lot of time promoting the script of “The Big Chill” to the movie world, but it was rejected by 17 companies. Marcia Nasatir perservered because she believed in the movie, and finally got it financed so it could go into production.
Celebrating her ground breaking contribution to the world of entertainment, Marcia Nasatir was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Antonio Film Festival in 2016.
Photo: sanantonioreport.org Marcia Nasatir with San Antonio Film Festival Executive Director Adam Rocha, and Director of “A Classy Broad” Anne Goursaud
Then in 2019, the San Antonio Film Festival honored actress Cybill Shepherd with the first ever Marcia Nasatir Award.
Photo: aclassybroadfilm.com
During a recent interview Marcia said, “I believe that if you don’t go out, nothing ever happens to you. I am jealous of my two granddaughters because they go clubbing. I wish I could go clubbing, but I don’t have any boyfriends who are contemporaries and want to go clubbing. They only want to sit at home and watch a ballgame”
You can enjoy the amazing life and achievements of Marcia Nasatir in the 2016 Documentary “A Classy Broad” by Anne Goursaud
Photo: aclassybroadfilm.com
More stories about Marcia Nasatir:
* In her home she has 2 pillows on her sofa that were embroidered by her sister Justice Rose Spector. One pillow says “DONE”…the other says “NEXT” and she says they are terms that define her approach to life and her career. During her interview with Alexandra Botti on The Takeaway, she said, “When you have had a bad experience, get it out of your body and your head, and go on to the next thing…because there is always a next thing”
Marcia added that she is hoping that these words will be on her tombstone.
* During her time at United Artists, she unsuccessfully lobbied for the studio to go ahead with a new little film that was then known as “The Star Wars”
* While at Thomas Jefferson High in San Antonio, she was a Lasso ( a dance team member ) and became an accomplished rope-twirler.
* She says her favorite restaurant in San Antonio is La Fonda, and always visits there during her returns to her hometown.
Photo: SA Current
Sources:
sacurrent.com
aclassybroadfilm.com
wnycstudios.org ( The Takeaway — Alexandra Botti )
l’chaimmagazine.com
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