Gary Cosay, a longtime talent agent who was among the co-founders of United Talent Agency, has died. He was 92.
Cosay died Oct. 5 at his home in Carmel, Calif. He was known for representing top TV writers and he was a quiet force in the rise of the modern-day showrunner in the 1990s and early 2000s. Cosay had not been active with the agency for some years, but he remained a beloved mentor to a number of current agency partners.
“Gary Cosay was a true original whose integrity, and extraordinary contributions to the entertainment industry left a lasting mark on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him,” said Jay Sures, partner and vice chairman of UTA. “As one of the original founders of UTA, he was a fierce advocate for representing writers with vigor and passion and at the same time teaching younger agents the secret sauce for success. All of us at UTA will miss him dearly.”
Cosay represented key writer-producers behind influential 1980s and ’90s TV series hits including Fox’s “Married … with Children” and ABC’s “The Wonder Years,” “Growing Pains” and “The Drew Carey Show,” among many others. Cosay’s experience helped guide many clients and many younger agents to develop hits that would reap millions of dollars for all involved in syndication and through lucrative packaging deals for talent agencies.
“Getting a show on the air is like hitting a single,” Cosay told Variety in 1997, making a baseball analogy. “Getting a show on the air that stays on the air is like hitting a home run.”
In recent years, Cosay was active in animal rescue efforts. He was responsible for rescuing many dogs over the years, including greyhounds bred for racing that were saved from abusive conditions.
Cosay started his career in the late 1960s as an assistant at William Morris Agency in New York. After rising through the ranks, he left to move to the West Coast to join then-powerhouse agency Creative Management Associates in 1973. He exited CMA after two years to form his own agency, Cosay, Werner & Associates. From there, Cosay merged his business with fellow literary powerhouse agents Jim Berkus and Robert Stein to form Berkus-Cosay-Stein in 1982. By October 1983, Cosay’s firm merged with Robert Littman Co. to form Leading Artists.
In early 1991, Leading Artists merged with the Bauer-Benedek agency to create UTA. Cosay’s stature in the television literary world helped establish the young agency as a haven for promising and established scribes.
Cosay is survived by his wife, Healy.
At Cosay’s direction, there will be no public memorial service. Family and friends request that donations be made in Cosay’s memory can be made to the SPCA of Monterey County.
(Pictured: Showrunner Bruce Helford, comedian George Lopez and Gary Cosay)