Paul Werth; Producer, Performer

Paul Werth, a radio and television personality and live concert and radio producer who brought Bing Crosby back to live performances with a concert at the Music Center, has died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 69.

Werth’s entertainment career began in the 1950s in New York, where he produced concert performances for Harry Belafonte, the Weavers, Woody Guthrie, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Stan Getz. He moved in 1957 to Los Angeles, where he produced concerts and theater shows for Dinah Washington, Theodore Bikel, Billy Taylor, Herbie Mann and others.

In 1976, he coaxed Crosby back to the stage with a concert at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

He received a Billboard Air Personality award in 1972 for his show on Los Angeles radio station KFAC.

In 1992, he adapted and produced Neil Simon’s “Sunshine Boys” as the first in a series of Mark Taper Forum Theater of the Air radio programs.

Werth is survived by a daughter, Michelle McKee, and a granddaughter.

A memorial service is scheduled for Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Temple Sinai of Glendale, 1212 N. Pacific Ave. in Glendale.