NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert and Lisa Medrano, a former human resources exec, exchanged their vows for a second time in a ceremony officiated by Acme Communications chairman and CEO Jamie Kellner Aug. 13.
Courtesy of SubjectHarbert-Medrano Wedding: NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert and Lisa Medrano, a former human resources exec, exchanged their vows for a second time in a ceremony officiated by Acme Communications chairman and CEO Jamie Kellner Aug. 13. Kellner and his wife, Julie, hosted a fete at their Montecito home for Medrano, in a Jenny Packham gown, and Harbert. Among the 75 friends who attended were CBS’ Les Moonves and Electus’ Ben Silverman. The New York- based couple initially wed June 11 at the Peninsula hotel in New York in front of 16 guests.
ENGAGEMENT
Chris Aronson, senior vp domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, proposed to Melissa Elliott, executive director of exhibitor services at Warner Bros., on Aug. 13 in Los Angeles at WP24, the same restaurant where they shared their first date. The couple, who have been together a year, plan to marry in L.A. this fall.
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BIRTHS
Mandeville Films senior vp David Manpearl and his wife, Dana Theodoratos, vp talent and casting at the CW, welcomed a son, Luke Theodore Manpearl, on Aug. 8 in Los Angeles. He joins big sister Sofia Eleni.
Luke Parker Bowles, executive vp production at Open Road Integrated Media, and his wife, Daniela Parker Bowles, welcomed son Oliver Anthony Parker Bowles on Aug. 16 in New York. The couple also has a 2-year-old daughter, Lily Grace.
CONGRATS
Island Def Jam Music Group promoted Karen Kwak to executive vp/head of A&R Aug. 22.
Univision named Jeff Browning senior vp sales at Univision News on Aug. 16. He will take the post Sept. 6. … The company also hired Karl Penhaul and Carlos Villalon as special foreign correspondents for Univision News on Aug. 17.
Stratton Sclavos joined TV online network Prospect Park as partner Aug. 16.
Evan Langweiler was promoted to manager of media relations at Universal Pictures on Aug. 19.
Logo appointed Brent Zacky senior vp original programming and development and tapped Michelle Auguste as senior director of programming research Aug. 22.
The Ovation network tapped Oscar Ordaz as director of distribution Aug. 16.
CMT hired Leslie Fram as senior vp music strategy Aug. 16. She will begin Sept. 1.
DEATHS
TV director Reza Badiyi died Aug. 20 in Los Angeles. Badiyi, whose credits include Get Smart and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, set a DGA record for helming the most hours of episodic series television. He was 81.
Gualtiero Jacopetti, the Italian director and screenwriter behind the Mondo “shockumentaries” of the early 1960s that influenced filmmakers including John Waters, died Aug. 17 at his home in Rome. The filmmaker, whose credits also include Africa Blood and Guts and Goodbye Uncle Tom, was 91.
MUSIC INDUSTRY PASSING
Jerry Leiber (1933-2011)
Nick Ashford (1942-2011)
The music business lost two songwriting greats Aug. 22. Pop lyricist Jerry Leiber, whose partnership with Mike Stoller helped shape the identity of early rock ‘n’ roll with such timeless songs as Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock,” the Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby” and the Coasters’ biggest hits, died of cardiopulmonary failure in Los Angeles. He was 78. Nick Ashford, who wrote and performed as Ashford & Simpson with wife Valerie Simpson, died of cancer in New York at 69. The duo penned the Diana Ross chart-topper “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and had their own radio smash with “Solid” in 1984. “Heaven will have some great songs now,” tweeted fellow hitmaker Diane Warren, one of the many music heavies mourning the loss of these two industry vets.
BIRTHDAYS
- Aug. 31: Screenwriter Lowell Ganz
- Sept. 1: Padma Lakshmi
- Sept. 2: Jon Feltheimer, Mark Harmon
- Sept. 3: Garth Ancier, Noah Baumbach
- Sept. 4: Dr. Drew Pinsky
- Sept. 5: Werner Herzog
- Sept. 6: Idris Elba
