Norman Brokaw was a pioneering talent agent who played a crucial role in shaping the entertainment industry. The high-level William Morris Agency Executive represented some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but his way to the top is a story worth telling.
Starting as a mailroom clerk in the early 1940s, Brokaw’s journey to a successful career included one of his most notable roles: being Marilyn Monroe’s driver. Thanks to his uncle, Johnny Hyde, Brokaw got the pleasure of driving around one of Hollywood’s most famous starlets, which started with a comical first meeting.
“He went over to the house and was about to sit down on the sofa,” says Joel Brokaw, Norman Brokaw’s son and author of Driving Marilyn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Agent Norman Brokaw. “They all gasped and screamed at him not to sit there because there was a plaster model of Marilyn’s new chin that he was about to sit on.”
As Johnny Hyde’s health deteriorated, Brokaw took on more responsibilities, accompanying Monroe to acting lessons, auditions and meetings. One of those occasions lead to Marilyn meeting Joe DiMaggio, all thanks to Norman.
“My father took Marilyn to a local television program called Lights, Camera, and Action, recalls Joel. “Afterward, they went to the Hollywood Brown Derby for a bite to eat. It didn’t take long before they were noticed. William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, walked over and said, ‘I’m having dinner with Joe D. He would like to meet the young lady.’”
Marilyn, unfamiliar with baseball, asked Norman, “Who’s Joe D.?” Norman explained that DiMaggio was a sports legend and one of baseball’s greatest players. Sure enough, as Norman predicted, DiMaggio later called him, asking for Marilyn’s phone number. That introduction led to one of the most famous relationships in entertainment history.
As Brokaw’s career took off, he eventually landed his job as an executive and worked with legendary entertainers like Mary Tyler Moore, Clint Eastwood, and Elvis Presley.
“My dad had met Elvis on many occasions, but all the business was separate,” explains Joel. “And with Colonel Parker, if he was on your team, you were so happy to have him on your team, but if you were sitting against him at the negotiating table, it was not a very pleasant experience.”
While his stories were likely endless, Brokaw was humble and a man of honor. “The problem I had was that my father, he had an offer to do a book with $1 million advance at the time, and he turned it down. To write a book about his life and his clients was something that would go against his core, because being an agent, you had to be this keeper of secrets, and you didn’t want to breach the confidentiality with your clients,” said Joel
Adds Joel, “We all know celebrity stories, Marilyn, Elvis, Natalie Wood, they all died unfortunately too early. But he had a code of ethics about him that he didn’t really get involved unless somebody asked for help or if he saw that there was something going on that would jeopardize their career. It wasn’t about him or him losing a client. He always put the relationship first.”
