(April 14, 1950 – October 22, 2024)
Lynda Obst, one of the most prolific female producers in Hollywood, died in Los Angeles, according to her brother, WME partner Rick Rosen. She was 74.
The producer’s long list of hit films includes Flashdance, The Fisher King, One Fine Day, Contact, Hope Floats, Interstellar and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. She also executive produced Sleepless In Seattle, 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.
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.
