Longtime public relations expert Nancy Seltzer, who worked with celebrity clients including Garth Brooks, the late Sean Connery and plenty of more, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 79.
“Public relations is the toughest job in show business,” Brooks said in an announcement. “She all the time handled every situation with the utmost class.”
Over time she represented actors including Richard Burton and Robert Downey Jr. and musicians including Whitney Houston. For a few years, she was a relentless presence as the pinnacle publicist on the Academy Awards red carpet.
The Nancy Seltzer & Associates boutique publicity firm had offices on each coasts and represented clients across film, music, theater and the literary world.
Seltzer began her profession in her native Latest York before moving to Los Angeles. She went on to rep top names in acting including Bette Davis, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Kathy Bates and Tom Wilkinson, in addition to Placido Domingo within the music world and bestselling writer Danielle Steel.
She helped promote iconic movies including “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Breaking Away,” “All That Jazz,” “Splash,” “RoboCop,” “Spinal Tap,” “Aliens,” “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “When Harry Met Sally…” and “A Few Good Men,” and represented movies including “Amadeus,” “Misery,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Dead Man Walking” from production through their Academy Award campaigns.
“Ms. Seltzer was particularly known for her extraordinary trust. She created long lasting friendships with people from everywhere in the world to whom she was also wonderful, kind, caring and fiercely loyal,” her firm said in an announcement.
Donations could also be made to the Tower Cancer Research Foundation.