Bill Treusch, an esteemed New York-based talent manager, died at the age of 80 following a long illness on Tuesday in New York City.
Through Treusch’s career, he was instrumental in finding and guiding the careers of Sissy Spacek, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, Christopher Walken, Tom Hulce, Diane Keaton, Eric Roberts, Tom Berenger, Peter Weller, Viggo Mortensen, Carol Kane and Sandy Dennis among many other notable actors.
Treusch began his professional career as an autograph collector, then became the personal assistant to Montgomery Clift, who was a theatrical talent agent with Dudley Field Malone. Most notably, Treusch joined the casting office of Marion Dougherty where he worked with Juliet Taylor, Wallis Nicita and Gretchen Rennell as an assistant.
Dougherty noted Treusch’s great eye for talent and reassigned him to a position where his management career then flourished. This story was chronicled in the 2012 documentary “Casting By” from director Tom Donahue. Later in his career, Treusch started his company Bill Treusch & Associates as a one-man operation, and it evolved into a powerhouse management company that provided actors a path into films, television and theatrical productions. The company was later renamed to Bill Treusch Management. Treusch’s professional career in talent management spanned across five decades, giving generous time to young writers and directors such as Joe Mantello and Peter Hedges, while mentoring a generation of producers, casting directors, agents and managers.
Born March 16, 1942, Treusch lived his life in New York City. Treusch is survived by his sister and brother-in-law Maureen and John Cunningham as well as nieces and nephews: Tara, Colin and Meghan Cunningham, Ken Treusch, who is talent manager and partner of Bleecker Street Entertainment and Shannon Treusch, a partner at Falco Ink, along with several great nephews and nieces.
