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« on: September 11, 2021, 10:56:42 PM »
Aubrey was quite a character. In more ways than one. Robin Stone, the main character in Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine, is modeled after him.
Prior to MGM, he was president of CBS. He was responsible for some of the network's biggest successes such as Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies, but also locked horns with virtually everyone at CBS from talent to other executives. His downfall may have come when he greenlighted three series from his friend, a minor show business figure named Keefe Brasselle. The three series, The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and a Cara Williams sitcom were poorly received by critics and audiences and went way over budget. Brasselle was also alleged to have ties to organized crime. Details are vague about what happened next but Aubrey was soon gone from the network.
He landed at MGM about two years later. Where he basically repeated the pattern. Aubrey canceled two Julie Andrews projects because he felt that musicals were no longer box office material. He also tried to cancel Ryan's Daughter but the film was just about completed, though still over budget.
Aubrey also edited many of the completed films, including films from Blake Edwards and Sam Peckinpah. Wikipedia states that Aubrey made a point to cut scenes in Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid that Sam specifically did not want cut. If Aubrey was able to do this with directors with a proven track record like Edwards and Peckinpah, it's not surprising that he would have pulled the same stunt with a neophyte director like Dan Curtis.
But Aubrey must have done something right somewhere because at one point he dated Raquel Welch.