California Dreaming

A newly minted law graduate, Larry Thompson pulled up at Hollywood and Vine with no job, no contacts—and an all-consuming desire to make it as a show biz attorney. That was all he needed.

by Larry Thompson

Thirty-six years later, Thompson has represented the careers of more than 200 celebrity clients—including William Shatner, Cindy Crawford, Drew Barrymore and Alan Thicke. He not only has fulfilled his own fantasy but also has produced 17 movies for television, five motion pictures, and numerous television specials and pilots. He most recently has turned his talents to writing. Shine (McGraw-Hill 2006) shows others how to follow their dreams and shoot for the stars.

“You don’t have to be in Hollywood to be a star; there’s stardust in everyone,” Thompson said. “Identifying your talent, summoning your rage, assembling your team and getting lucky will make anyone successful in whatever it is that they do.”

Simple as his four-step process may appear, Thompson is the first to admit it was a long, tedious journey from Delta dreamer to Beverly Hills mogul. Yet his experiences cause the principles he espouses in his book to ring true.

Identifying His Talent

“Larry had a real flair for meeting people and a certain degree of brashness,” said Edward Connell (LLB 61), one of Thompson’s law professors at Ole Miss.

“If I had to pick one guy to sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo, it would be Larry,” Connell added with a chuckle.

Thompson, a native of Clarksdale, Miss., concedes he’s always been a bit of a fast-talker.
“When I was a student at the School of Law, I convinced the law librarian to subscribe to a show-business newspaper I had heard about called Weekly Variety,” he said. “Of course, I was the only person in Mississippi who read it.”

Every Friday, Thompson would devour the periodical page by page. He took notes and kept index cards on everybody in Hollywood.

“I would go down to Leslie’s Drug Store in Oxford and buy movie magazines. I would cut out pictures of all of the people I was studying and staple the pictures to their index cards. I studied a town, a business and the people in it all by myself for two years,” Thompson said.

Summoning His Rage

On Aug. 20, 1968, Thompson was offered a clerkship with a Mississippi Supreme Court justice, but instead of accepting the stable position he chose not to play it safe and turned down the offer.

“I knew I was going to California just as sure as I had known that I was going to finish my degree from Ole Miss. It was all I had ever wanted and worked toward since I was in the sixth or seventh grade,” Thompson said.

With a $700 gift from his father, his box of index cards and all his clothes hanging across the back seat of his black Oldsmobile, Thompson took off for Hollywood with no contacts and no job prospects.

“Not only had I never been to California, but I had never met anyone who had ever been to California,” he said.

Three days later—at 10 p.m. and in the pouring rain—Thompson reached the corner of Hollywood and Vine, the only Hollywood street address he had ever heard about.

“I got out of my car, stood in the rain, looked around and cried, cried and cried. I was where I was supposed to be. I had arrived,” Thompson said.

Getting Lucky

Getting a job was tougher than he expected, but while studying for the

California Bar exam, Thompson’s class had a guest speaker—an executive from Capitol Records.

“I followed him to his car. I begged him for a job. Started calling him two or three times a week. I think he hired me just to get me off his back,” Thompson said.

Thompson started as in-house counsel for Capitol Records. Subsequently, on behalf of Capitol, he negotiated the famed Beatles breakup. “Their breakup was a big break for me.”

Once word of Thompson’s legal abilities got around, he soon had no problem securing a steady stream of “A-List” clients. Over the years he and his team of managers have represented such stars as Barry White, Mariska Hargitay, Scott Hamilton, Shannen Doherty, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Evans, Cicely Tyson, Tatum O’Neal, Donna Mills, Richard Pryor, Tori Spelling, Merle Haggard, Delta Burke, and Sonny and Cher.

Assembling His Team

As one might imagine, many of Thompson’s clients have become his personal friends.

“Larry and I have been dear friends for over 25 years,” said William Shatner. “Once he invited me to Clarksdale to meet his family and dedicate the Larry Thompson Center for Fine Arts. He drove me around Clarksdale and showed me where he went to high school. We ate barbecue, and he even showed me where he kissed his first love. I guess that makes us close friends.”

Though he hasn’t been to the Oxford campus in many years, Thompson has several friends who have sons and daughters attending the university. Recently he was contacted about the possibility of returning to his alma mater to share his story with students, faculty and staff, and he hopes to make good on that invitation, he said.

“Being raised in Clarksdale gave me a good foundation. I love Mississippi and owe a lot to it. I’ll always be proud to be from there,” Thompson added.

But for now, Thompson is on a mission to promote the message of his book.

“What I want people to understand is that you don’t have to leave Clarksdale or Jackson, and you don’t have to be in the movies or on television to be a star,” he said. “I want everyone to understand that they have stardust inside them, too.”

—Edwin Smith is a communications specialist in UM’s Department of Media and Public Relations.

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