Beatles film producer Walter Shenson dead at 81

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Walter Shenson, who produced the Beatles films "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) and "Help!" (1965) and 12 other films, has died of complications from a stroke. He was 81.

Shenson, who got his start in show business as a publicist for Paramount Pictures, made most of his films during an 18-year stretch in England. He produced "A Hard Day's Night" just as Beatlemania swept across America.

He produced "Help!" with the rock group the following year and had agreed to make a third film that never got off the ground, said his lifelong friend Arthur Wilde, adding that later in life, Shenson would give talks about his time with the Fab Four.

"He loved it, and the Beatles liked him and they all got along well," Wilde said. "He was a wonderful, wonderful guy."

Shenson, who was born in San Francisco, California, in 1919 and educated at Stanford University, spent two years in the United States Army during World War II. He worked as a publicist on the films "From Here to Eternity" (1953) and "The Caine Mutiny" (1954) before turning to producing.

His other films included "The Mouse that Roared," (1959) which featured Peter Sellers, and 1983's "Reuben, Reuben," starring Tom Conti.

Shenson, whose wife, Geraldine Shenson, died last year, is survived by a sister, two sons, and four grandchildren.

Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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