Lew Horwitz, Producer Known as the ‘King of Indie Film Finance,’ Dies at 90

Lewis Horwitz, the American film executive and producer dubbed Hollywood’s “King of Indie Film Finance,” died on Dec. 19. He was 90.

Horwitz began his career as a bank teller in Los Angeles in the 1960s. He eventually founded the entertainment division at Beverly Hills National Bank. At the time, few banks would lend money to movie studios, and Beverly Hills National Bank’s location on Wilshire Boulevard made it highly accessible for creative clientele.

More versed in the entertainment industry’s inner-mechanisms than many of his banker colleagues, Horwitz convinced Beverly Hills National Bank to lend Mary Tyler Moore a loan against a deal memo, which helped her create “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1970 as well as her Mtm Production Company. It was the first of many star-driven deals that Horwitz would facilitate for the bank before it was bought by Wells Fargo.

Horwitz then moved to the First Los Angeles Bank,…