Zack Norman, the comedian, actor and producer perhaps best known for his turn as a crocodile-loving antiques smuggler in Romance the stone, is dead. He was 83 years old.
Norman died Sunday evening of natural causes at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, his family said.
Norman frequently collaborated with director Henry Jaglom, the two working together on Tracks (1976), Ducks sitting (1980), Venice/Venice (1992), Baby fever (1994), Already seen (1997), Festival in Cannes (2001), Hollywood dreams (2006), Irene in time (2009), Queen of the Lot (2010), The M word (2014) and Ovation (2015).
In Robert Zemeckis’ action-adventure Romance the stone (1984), starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, Norman and Danny DeVito play smuggler cousins Ira and Ralph, respectively.
“Look at these snappers” Ira says in awe every time he sees a crocodile.
(He and Douglas would find themselves in a legal feud over a company they co-founded.)
Norman also appeared on the big screen in the James Toback film Fingers (1978), Milos Forman Ragtime (1981), Robert Downey Sr. America (1986) and that of Roger Donaldson The Cadillac Man (1990) and as a guest star on television shows including The flash, Baywatch, Team A And The nanny.
Zack Norman (left) and Danny DeVito in 1984 Romance the stone.
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection
Howard Jerrold Zuker was born in Boston on May 27, 1940, and grew up in nearby Revere. He attended the Governor’s Academy and Vanderbilt University before receiving an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.
He started out as a stand-up comedian, performing at Playboy clubs, the Flamingo in Las Vegas and the Copacabana in New York, and managed to make a name for himself. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1969.
Norman produced John Arden’s Live like pigsa long-running drama that opened on Broadway in 1965 and helped finance films including that of Peter Davis. Hearts and minds (1974), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and films made in Italy.
During the 2016 presidential election, Norman finalized Chief Zabu, a film he directed, co-wrote and co-produced in 1986 about a real estate developer (played by Allen Garfield) with political ambitions. (He also played a struggling comedian in the film.)
“Although its mix of crazy, broad and deadpan is uneven, its story of American business schemes on a small Polynesian nation still has a satirical bite,” The Hollywood Reporter» wrote Sheri Linden in her review.
Norman was also an art collector who owned paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Survivors include his wife, Nancy; sister Jeanne; daughters Lori and Tracy; sons Stephen and Michael; and grandchildren Sascha, Addison, Benjamin, Henry, Liliana, Jonathan, Justin, Jayden, Jackie,…
