Michael White , the man who Anna Wintour once described as ‘the most famous man you’ve never heard of‘ has just died aged 80 years old. White was a celebrated British theater impressario who introduced London to art ‘happenings’ with Yoko Ono, contemporary dance with Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch, discovered the ground-breaking ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, joined forces with Kenneth Tynan to produce the all-nude review Oh Calcutta’, gave Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna Everage his first big break. Then as his career moved into movies he produced ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, John Water’s ‘Polyester’, and the classic ‘My Dinner with Andre’.
Filmmaker Grace Otto made a truly fascinating documentary on
White after casually meeting him at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 where she was intrigued about this charming septuagenarian who literally knows everybody worth knowing. And what’s more, they all totally adored him. From British royalty to the Hollywood A list via mega-rock stars to model superstars, White has hung out with them all, and many of them, including ex-wives and girlfriends, eagerly line up in Otto’s movie to give witness to all the joyous times they have spent together. Even Wintour the Ice Queen cracked a rare smile on her face when she talked about her times with White.
Otto aptly called her profile The Last Impresario (see our full review here) and as Wintour also so accurately summed up his rich and tumultuous career by describing him as ‘a true Renaissance man’.
Michael White (16 January 1936 – 7 March 2016)
Labels: 2016, culture, michael white, obituary
