Harris Katleman, a onetime protégé of mogul Lew Wasserman who went on to head the television departments at MGM and 20th Century Fox, died Wednesday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his family announced. He was 97.
Born on Aug. 19, 1928, in Omaha, Nebraska, Katleman moved with his family to Beverly Hills when he was 8. He dropped out of UCLA at age 19 to join MCA, where he became an “office boy” and protégé of Wasserman. Four years later, he was named to head the agency’s television department in New York.
At MCA, he represented talent including Jackie Gleason and Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Michael Hayes (Rear Window, Peyton Place) and was involved in signing Clark Gable and Howard Keel.
Katleman exited MCA to join Goodson-Todman Productions, which under his watch initiated the network series The Web, The Rebel, Branded and The Richard Boone Show. He also packaged and executive produced the 1966 film Ride Beyond Vengeance, starring Branded lead Chuck Connors, under a joint venture between Goodson-Todman and Columbia Pictures.
Katleman in 1972 was hired as president of MGM Television and senior vp of MGM Inc., where he was instrumental in developing the 1975 CBS telefilm Babe, starring Susan Clark as superstar athlete Babe Didrikson, and the TV shows How the West Was Won and CHiPs.
