Howard W. Koch; Producer, Director, Academy President

Veteran producer-director Howard W. Koch, onetime president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and former head of production at Paramount Pictures, died Friday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 84.

As a producer, he counted the classic 1962 film “The Manchurian Candidate” among his credits. As a director, he was responsible for such successful TV series as “Maverick” and “The Untouchables,” as well as feature films such as “Andy Hardy Comes Home” and “Bop Girl Goes Calypso.”

A native New Yorker, Koch worked his way up in the business, which he entered in the 1930s. At his death, he was a producer at Paramount, where he was head of production from 1964 to 1966, after which he became an independent producer at the studio. He occupied the same office--and had the same personal assistant--for 35 years.

Under his aegis, the studio turned out movies such as the award-winning “Becket,” “Alfie” and “Barefoot in the Park.” As an independent producer, he was responsible for films such as “The Odd Couple” and “Airplane!”--two of his favorites.

Koch loved making movies--and the relationships he formed, said his producer-son Hawk (“Keeping the Faith,” “Primal Fear”). Born Howard W. Koch Jr., Hawk Koch changed his name on his 50th birthday to establish an identify of his own.

‘He Took the Time to Acknowledge People’

“My father cast such a large shadow--and I decided that it was time I had my own name,” he said. “Two or three times a day, people would tell me how wonderful he was. He took the time to acknowledge people--even crediting his secretary of 25 years when accepting the academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1990--and allowed people the credit they deserved. That’s unusual in Hollywood, and it ain’t easy following that.”

The senior Koch started working in the contract and play date department at Universal Pictures in New York before taking a job, in 1935, as a film librarian at 20th Century Fox. In 1944, he took on his first job as assistant director, of “The Keys to the Kingdom,” starring Gregory Peck. In the 1940s and 1950s, Koch continued his work as an assistant director, rubbing shoulders with Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck and such prominent directors as Busby Berkeley and Mervyn Leroy, with whom he worked at MGM in 1949.

Koch and Leroy, he later recalled, would step out to watch the horses at Hollywood Park, joining Betty Grable, Bing Crosby and Louis B. Mayer in the stands.

“Let’s run out [to the track]; nobody’ll know,” Koch recalled Leroy saying. “And if they find out, maybe we’re looking for locations.”

In the early 1950s, Koch partnered with his professional benefactor Aubrey Schenck to form Bel Air Productions under the United Artists banner. With Schenck, he produced more than 30 movies between 1953 and 1958 for that studio and Warner Bros. He also directed such TV series as “Cheyenne “ and “Hawaiian Eye.”

Though directing was his passion, Koch took a detour in 1961, when Frank Sinatra asked him to head up his Sinatra Enterprises. Koch served as executive producer on several features for the star, including “Sergeants 3,” “Come Blow Your Horn,” “Robin and the Seven Hoods” and “None but the Brave.”

Three years after accepting his post at Paramount, Koch returned to independent producing, turning out pictures such as “A New Leaf” and “Plaza Suite.” One of the best-loved men in Hollywood, he served as president of the motion picture academy from 1977 to 1979 and produced eight Oscar shows.

Koch also served on the boards of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which gave him the Silver Medallion Award of Honor in 1985, along with Edie Wasserman. Koch also received the Producer of the Year Award from the National Assn. of Theater Owners in 1980 and the Directors Guild’s Frank Capra Award in 1991.

‘There Is Not Much I Haven’t Done’

“I’ve had the most wonderful career in the motion picture industry,” he said. “There is not much I haven’t done.”

The secret of his success? “I guess I have more friends than enemies,” he said.

In addition to his son, Koch is survived by Ruth, his wife of 63 years; his daughter, Melinda Blinken; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Paramount will honor Koch in its main theater on the lot at 11 a.m. Feb. 25. The family asks that any donations be made in his honor to the Motion Picture and Television Fund.