Robert Metzler; Academy Awards Official
Robert F. Metzler, a writer and producer who served as business manager for the Academy Awards presentation ceremony for 44 years, has died. He was believed to be 80.
Metzler, who had been working on the 70th Oscar show for March 23, died Monday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, his son, Robert Jr., said Thursday.
A general trouble-shooter as well as business manager for the annual extravaganza, Metzler became a popular raconteur of stories about the stars and the shows.
He enjoyed telling stories about overzealous security guards turning away Frank Sinatra’s Rolls-Royce for lack of a proper sticker and carrying out Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Jones because she didn’t have an official badge.
Metzler also recalled a friendly war over several years with actress Joan Crawford about the free Coca-Cola handed out to everyone at the awards ceremony. Crawford, a board member of Pepsico, wanted him to switch to Pepsi-Cola.
It was also Crawford, Metzler told The Times in 1993, who taught him the meaning of being a star. He was escorting her out of the 1962 Oscars ceremony to catch a plane when teenagers ran up requesting her autograph. He prepared to stop.
“Keep on moving, Bob,” she told him. “You never stop. You just walk and you smile and you sign and you open the door to your car and you get in and you blow a kiss to everyone and away you go.”
Metzler won the entree to his career in a national screenwriting contest sponsored by MGM: The prize was a job. He worked on the Andy Hardy film series and on such features as “The Philadelphia Story,” and wrote B pictures for other studios, among them “Riders of the Purple Sage” and “Circumstantial Evidence.”
Also writing for radio, he produced scripts for “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Philip Marlowe,” “Hollywood Star Playhouse” and “Lux Radio Theater.”
Metzler worked for the U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs in Mexico during World War II, and signed on with Walt Disney Productions, where he produced True Life Adventure films. He later worked for NBC on “Columbo,” “Supertrain” and other series.
In addition to his son Robert, Metzler is survived by another son, Rick, and a brother, Roy.
A memorial service is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Old North Church in Forest Lawn Memorial Park--Hollywood Hills.
The family has requested that any memorial donations be made to the Academy Foundation, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211.