Darcie Denkert, MGM Exec and Broadway Musical Producer, Dies at 64 | Playbill

Obituaries Darcie Denkert, MGM Exec and Broadway Musical Producer, Dies at 64 Denkert helped ferry MGM film properties to the stage.
Laura Bell Bundy in Legally Blonde Photo by Joan Marcus

Darcie Denkert, a producer who helped translate MGM film properties into Broadway musicals, died June 10 in Los Angeles. She was 64. The cause was cancer.

Ms. Denkert was head of MGM On Stage. As such, she helped to ferry MGM movie properties to the boards. These included titles like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Legally Blonde.

Scoundrels, produced in 2005, ran for a year and a half and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. Legally Blonde and Priscilla Queen of the Desert received Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical. Her other MGM credits including the 2011 revival of Promises, Promises, a musical based on the film The Apartment.

Ms. Denkert knew Broadway well. She was born in New York. She began her career as a theatrical lawyer dealing with Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. In 1977, she joined the legal department of United Artists, which was linked to MGM. She was promoted to director of business affairs in 1981. In 2002, she president of the newly formed MGM Entertainment Group. As such, she, along with colleague Dean Stobler, was charged with finding theatrical futures for MGM film properties.

In 2005, she published A Fine Romance, about the relationship between Hollywood and Broadway.

She is survive by her husband Shelby. A funeral service was held Monday at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

 
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