Eric Gardnerpresident and CEO of Panacea Entertainment, died of complications from pneumonia on July 19 at his home in Camarillo, California. Gardner, whose career as a talent manager and producer of television shows and residences in Las Vegas spanned more than 50 years, was 74 years old.
Gardner, who has managed dozens of acts over the years, was inducted into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame at their 2017 ceremony in Las Vegas. He was still managing Todd Rundgren and Paul Shaffer at the time of his death.
Gardner's career began in 1970 when, as a graduate student earning a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting at Columbia University, he began coordinating tours for rock bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead and, later, KISS. His company, Panacea Entertainment Corp., was the industry's first rock and roll tour coordination company. By 1973, he was coordinating tours in 23 countries.
In 1974, Panacea's emphasis shifted to talent management. Over the years, Gardner represented musical artists as diverse as Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, Kenney Jones of The Who/Faces/Small Faces, Rundgren, Donny Osmond, Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, the Stray Cats, Jefferson Starship, the Sex Pistols, John Lydon, Steven Van Zandt and Max Weinberg (both of the E Street Band), Hot Tuna, Blue Öyster Cult, Grace Jones and Bettye LaVette.
He also represented Late Night with David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer; writer/producer Jim Steinman. actors David Hasselhoff, Richard Belzer and Richard Chamberlain. and psychologist, author and activist Timothy Leary, among others.
In 1981, Gardner moved Panacea from New York to Los Angeles to expand into film and television. His first foray in 1982 was signing Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, whom he helped develop from a local Los Angeles television personality into an international film and television phenomenon. Over the next 26 years, she produced many of her film and television projects.
Gardner's IMDB page lists 40 credits as a producer or executive producer, including numerous projects with Elvira, Hasselhoff, Belzer, Rundgren (both solo and with the band Utopia), Shaffer and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.
Gardner produced and directed a television special in 1976, Blue Oyster Cult: Live 1976. This was the year the band had their biggest hit, “(Don't Fear) the Reaper,” which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
He was an executive producer Digital Dreams, a 1983 TV movie that chronicled Wyman's life. Two years later, he was an executive producer Willie and the Poor Boys, a film about the “supergroup” of the same name. The band consisted of Wyman and Charlie Watts, also of the Rolling Stones, as well as Andy Fairweather Low, Mickey Gee and Geraint Watkins. Their self-titled album peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard 200 in 1985.
Gardner strain production Heavy Metal Heavena 1990 miniseries in which Elvira presented six programs celebrating the genre.
He was an executive producer The Filth and the Fury, a 2000 documentary about the career of the infamous punk rock band, the Sex Pistols. The film was directed by Julien Temple, who had also directed The Great Rock and Roll Swindlethe classic 1980 documentary about the band. The Filth and the Fury it gave the surviving members of the group a chance to tell their side of the story. Also in 2000, Gardner executive producer Rotten TVa short-lived VH-1 series hosted by Lydon of Sex Pistols fame.
He was an executive producer Bitter jester, a 2003 show billed as the first documentary to offer a look at the process behind the comedy we watch in clubs, on television and in the movies. The film included interviews with Richard Pryor and Belcher, among others.
In 2006 he was an executive producer Running with Arnold, a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful campaign in California that year. The doc was narrated by Alec Baldwin.
In 2019, he was an executive producer Paul Shaffer Plus Onean eight-episode television series in which Shaffer and his guests discussed inspirations and influences and notable songs.
Although he was involved in several musical projects, Gardner's longest-running television project was Shahs of Sunset, a Bravo reality series that followed a group of affluent young Persian-American friends who juggle their flamboyant lifestyles in Los Angeles with the demands of family. More than 125 episodes are produced from 2012-2021.
Gardner was also behind several successful residences in Las Vegas. In 2009 it started and produced Donny & Marie with Donny and Marie Osmond at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in association with Caesar's Entertainment. He co-produced with Planet Hollywood, also in Las Vegas, the “Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band” residency shows. Once again with Caesar's Entertainment, he produced “Paul Shaffer and the Shaff-Shifters” house shows.
Gardner was active until his death. Projects in the works at the time of his death included a Blues Brothers primetime animated television series in collaboration with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's widow, Judy Belushi (who died two weeks before Gardner, on July 5 at the age of 73). adaptation of the 1980 hit Blues Brothers movie as a Broadway musical; “Sharknado the Musical” in Las Vegas in association with Caesar's Entertainment/Greg Young/The Asylum. a Hellraiser primetime TV series with former president of New World Entertainment Larry Cupin; and a feature film about the life story of Timothy Leary with HBO.
Gardner is survived by his wife, Janis, who co-owns Panacea Entertainment, and three grown daughters, Cameron, Madeleine and Nathalie.
