(Variety) Paramount vet 'Gino' Campagnola, 76 - Former exec had served for more than 50 yrs. at studio

Paramount vet 'Gino' Campagnola dies

Former exec had served for more than 50 yrs. at studio

By TATIANA SIEGEL

Sergio "Gino" Campagnola, who served for more than 50 years with
Paramount Pictures, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 76.

With a career that spanned the releases of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten
Commandments" to James Cameron's "Titanic," Campagnola's most recent
post at the studio was executive president of electronic cinema, a
role he assumed in 2001 after serving for almost a decade as executive
VP and general sales manager.

Like so many other industyites, Campagnola got his start in the
mailroom -- in his case in Paramount's Gotham office. In 1956, the
year of DeMille's biblical blockbuster, he was upped to the contract
department, where he spent five years before moving on to the sales
and distribution area.

It was in that department that his career took off as he rose through
the ranks as director, then VP of sales administration and eventually
was named senior VP and general sales manager. He was a key member of
the team that released a string of hits including "The Godfather"
films, "Chinatown," "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" in
the 1970s,
and Oscar winners "Ordinary People" and "Terms of Endearment" as well
as blockbusters such as "Airplane!," "Beverly Hills Cop" and the
Indiana Jones trilogy in the 1980s.

After Paramount relocated its home office from New York to Los Angeles
following the death of Gulf+Western chief Charles Bluhdorn in 1983,
Campagnola took the reins of Paramount Canada and was based in Toronto
from 1987 to 1992.

During his near decade as exec VP and general sales manager, he
oversaw the releases of the Oscar winners "Forrest Gump" and
"Braveheart" as well as the box-office hits like "Mission Impossible"
and "Runaway Bride."

In 2001, his 50th anniversary with the company, Campagnola was honored
with the Humanitarian Award from the Variety Boys & Girls Club of
Queens. His accompanying citation read, "In the truest sense of the
word, Gino Campagnola is one of the motion picture industry's true
gentlemen and friends who has earned the respect and admiration of all
who know him."

Campagnola is survived by his wife, Danielle, and his son, Justin.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010983.html




--

"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it
happens." - Woody Allen

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