Robert Coryell; Longtime Hollywood Agent

Robert Coryell, 92, pioneering Hollywood agent who worked with such stars as Bing Crosby, Clark Gable and James Garner. A banker with U.S. Savings & Loan Assn. in downtown Los Angeles during the 1920s, Coryell began working as an agent with the William Morris Agency in 1934 and remained in the business for 40 years. In the early 1960s he formed his own agency, Rosenberg & Coryell, with George Rosenberg. Coryell watched the agent’s tasks change from negotiating a star’s studio contract every seven years to finding work for independent entertainers two or three times a year. Coryell advocated creative packaging and gathered several of his actors and support personnel to create “Lil’ Abner” on Broadway. As an agent, Coryell was known for helping several newcomers to Hollywood. When British film director Ken Annakin was sent to Hollywood to find an American star for “Outpost in Malaya,” Coryell put together lunches and teas with Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, Joan Crawford and Claudette Colbert, who got the job. In his retirement, Coryell painted landscapes that were exhibited in Rancho Santa Fe and La Jolla. On Wednesday in Los Angeles.