Tom Jennings(III)
- Casting Director
- Casting Department
- Talent Agent
Tom Jennings was born in Chicago and raised in Santa Barbara,
California. After high school, he attended Hanover College,
Northwestern, The University of California at Berkeley and The
University of Illinois. Between Berkeley and Northwestern, he spent two
years active duty in the Marine Corps. Following college he began a
career as a municipal bond broker.
Shortly after his training as a broker commenced, a conversation with a friend lured him into the entertainment business and he left the brokerage firm to join the Artist's Agency Corporation. He then became Bing Crosby's de facto gopher. Within one year, he became Casting Director at United Artists Television casting The Patty Dukes Show, My Mother The Car, and Okay Crackerby. He then moved over to Universal Television where he replaced Mike Medavoy as Casting Director; doing shows such as The Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, Run for Your Life, The Name of the Game, It Takes a Theif, Adam 12, and others, as well as several "made-for-TV" movies including How I Spent My Summer Vacation which was the first movie made for television.
In 1972, he accepted the position of Director of Visual and Performing Arts at Expo 74, after which he returned to Hollywood and became Casting Director for the #1 show, Kung Fu.
His boss at Warner Bros. (Kung Fu), Sylvia Gold, talked him into becoming an agent and helped him get a job with Joan Scott's agency in Beverly Hills (now known as Writers and Artists). While there, Jennings dealt briefly with Harrison Ford and others. He was then offered a position with Progressive Artists where he met his future partner, Walter Beakel, and after one year, the two opened their own business in Beverly Hills - the Beakel & Jennings Agency. Over the next 12 years, they put together a list of some of the top actors, producers, directors, writers, athletes, comedians, and singers in the industry. Beakel & Jennings Agency was generally regarded as one of the best boutique agencies in Hollywood, with partnerships in New York, London, Paris, Rome, and Madrid.
Jennings retired in 1992, and now lives in the Northwest.
Shortly after his training as a broker commenced, a conversation with a friend lured him into the entertainment business and he left the brokerage firm to join the Artist's Agency Corporation. He then became Bing Crosby's de facto gopher. Within one year, he became Casting Director at United Artists Television casting The Patty Dukes Show, My Mother The Car, and Okay Crackerby. He then moved over to Universal Television where he replaced Mike Medavoy as Casting Director; doing shows such as The Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, Run for Your Life, The Name of the Game, It Takes a Theif, Adam 12, and others, as well as several "made-for-TV" movies including How I Spent My Summer Vacation which was the first movie made for television.
In 1972, he accepted the position of Director of Visual and Performing Arts at Expo 74, after which he returned to Hollywood and became Casting Director for the #1 show, Kung Fu.
His boss at Warner Bros. (Kung Fu), Sylvia Gold, talked him into becoming an agent and helped him get a job with Joan Scott's agency in Beverly Hills (now known as Writers and Artists). While there, Jennings dealt briefly with Harrison Ford and others. He was then offered a position with Progressive Artists where he met his future partner, Walter Beakel, and after one year, the two opened their own business in Beverly Hills - the Beakel & Jennings Agency. Over the next 12 years, they put together a list of some of the top actors, producers, directors, writers, athletes, comedians, and singers in the industry. Beakel & Jennings Agency was generally regarded as one of the best boutique agencies in Hollywood, with partnerships in New York, London, Paris, Rome, and Madrid.
Jennings retired in 1992, and now lives in the Northwest.