Eugene Pleshette; Theater Executive

Eugene Pleshette, a theater executive who began as an usher at New York’s famed Paramount Theatre and years later as an executive made the Brooklyn Paramount the spawning ground for rock ‘n’ roll artists, has died.

Pleshette died in Beverly Hills on Sept. 11, said his longtime friend, MCA consultant Herb Steinberg, who added that a cause of death had not been determined. Pleshette was believed in his 70s.

After Paramount Theatres and the American Broadcasting Co. merged, Pleshette became a vice president of ABC TV and when ABC merged with Madison Square Garden he became executive vice president of that new company. In addition to staging shows in arenas throughout the world, Pleshette also became responsible for ABC’s television specials.

After a stint as executive vice president of Don Reid Productions, he moved to California as a consultant for the Shubert Theatres and then became an independent consultant.

A widower, his survivors include a brother and his daughter, actress Suzanne Pleshette.