Hollywood publicist James Fitzgerald dies aged 91

James Fitzgerald, a publicist and manager in Hollywood who worked with his wives Jane Powell and Erin O'Brien, as well as Rock Hudson, Louella Parsons, Chuck Connors, and Howard Keel, has died. He was 91.

Fitzgerald died of natural causes on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Canoga Park, according to his son Greg Fitzgerald, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

Among others, Fitzgerald aided the careers of John Raitt, Engelbert Humperdinck, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jimmy Van Heusen, and The Burgundy Street Singers. And while promoting the Sammy Cahn song High Hopes, which was a great hit for Frank Sinatra and won an Oscar in 1960, he met Eleanor Roosevelt, who delivered the lyrics during an interview with him.

Fitzgerald endured marriage to singer-actress O'Brien (77 Sunset Strip, Onionhead) from 1951 to 1963, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers star Powell from 1965 to 1975 (he was the third of her five marriages).

James Donald Fitzgerald was born in Redwood City, California, on October 15, 1931.

Sammy Davis Jr. helped him find a job in the mailroom at Rogers & Cowan after he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, and he would later create his own company, James Fitzgerald Enterprises Inc., on Sunset Boulevard.