Peter Meyer, who represented Tom Hanks, James Caan and William Shatner as a talent agent at William Morris before running his own management company for the past three decades, has passed away. He was 68.
Meter died May 14 at his Los Angeles home after a five-year battle with sarcoma, his sister, writer-producer Patricia K. Meyer (The women of Brewster Place), announced. Survivors also include his son Chris Meyer, a talent agent at CAA.
After training under legendary WMA agent Stan Kamen, Meyer was hired as a talent agent in June 1978. His clients have included actors Sterling Hayden, Kevin Costner, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Walken, Steve Guttenberg, and David Hasselhoff.
After 11 years with WMA, he launched Meyer Management in 1990 to represent directors, writers, producers and authors, sell their work and facilitate their employment across all entertainment platforms.
He reprized Jeffrey Reiner (Friday night lights), Michael Sloan and Tony Eldridge (The equalizer), Joel Novoa (Cobra Kai), J. T. Allen (The lionking), Deric Washburn (The deer hunter) and Roger Frappier (The power of the dog), among other things.
Despite his painful health issues, Meyer was able to attend Jane Campion’s November 2021 premiere The power of the dog, which Frappier produced. That was “just one example of how he showed up ruthlessly for his clients,” his sister noted.
“Peter Meyer was my friend, my agent, my precious guide in the Hollywood jungle, always by my side,” Frappier said in a statement. “He was an inspiration on it The power of the dog from the first day in so many years.”
Meyer was also executive vice president at Kings Road Entertainment at the time of his death.
Peter Nicholas Meyer was born on May 11, 1955 in Santa Monica. His parents were TV producer Stanley Meyer (Dragnet) and Dodo Meyer, the daughter of former president and chairman of Universal Studios Nathan Blumberg.
After attending Harvard School, where he played varsity football and rugby, Meyer attended Yale University, where he was a Scholar of the House. (His senior thesis in college was titled “MGM and the Studio System in the Age of Mass Production”.)
In 2021, Meyer, his wife, Anna Maria, and his youngest son, Chase — a Mater Dei High School kicker who was recruited by colleges — sat down with host Fred Roggin for a Thanksgiving Day Edition from KNBC TVs Roggin’s heroes.
Meyer had just been released from the hospital and the family talked about Chase’s struggle to win on the field as his father battled cancer. His wife shared how Chase would stay with his father in the hospital until dawn and then go to the surgery.
“The hardest part is that we can no longer go to his games,” Meyer says in the piece. “So his brother Christopher and sister Sasha attend the games and FaceTime so we can watch Chase play on our phones.” (Chase ended up at the University of Pennsylvania.)
He and Anna Maria were married for 31 years. Survivors include children Christopher, Sasha and Chase, as well as cousins, Zachary, Nathan and Matthew. A memorial service will be held at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica on June 13 at 9:30 am.
