Harriet Halpern Beck, a veteran attorney and TV executive who represented Laugh-In producer George Schlatter and worked on deals for Saturday morning kids shows, died Friday in Los Angeles after a long illness, a publicist announced. She was 80.
Upon graduation from Loyola Marymount University law school in 1980, Beck landed a job as a business affairs attorney for Filmways, then moved into children’s television as vp business affairs for Ruby-Spears Productions.
There, she helped shape Saturday morning TV as the company supplied such shows as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mister T, Rambo, Punky Brewster, Dragon’s Lair and Rubik, the Amazing Cube to networks.
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She later worked on titles including The Care Bears, the animated Beetlejuice and an updated Beany and Cecil and played an integral role in the business deal for John Kricfalusi’ The Ren & Stimpy Show.
During the ’90s and 2000s, Beck worked for Group W Cable and the Hallmark Channel while maintaining a client roster of writers, producers, musicians, animators and designers.
For the past 10 years, she represented the famed Schlatter as well as independent producers including Butcher Bird Studios; Dean Butler at Legacy Documentaries; agent-producer Steven Glick; and poster artist David Edward Byrd, a childhood friend.
Beck began her career in show business in 1975 as a legal secretary for Dino De Laurentiis, where she learned about contract law while working on two films released in 1976: the producer’s remake of King Kong and Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson.
While with De Laurentiis, Beck enrolled in law school, attending classes at night while raising her son as a single mother.
As a legal secretary and student, she worked for firms that specialized in the music business and handled such clients as Fleetwood Mac. She also did research regarding rights and usage in the then-fledgling home video business.
Survivors include her son, creative executive Jordan Beck; daughter-in-law Shawna Beck; and grandchildren Henry and Ben.
