Nessa Hyams, Casting Director Behind ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Blazing Saddles,’ Dies at 84

Nessa Hyams, the casting director who worked on several New Hollywood classics such as William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” and Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” died on January 9 at her Manhattan home at the age of 84, according to her family.

Hyams served as head of casting at Warner Bros. from 1970 to 1974 before becoming vice president of creative affairs at Columbia Pictures. Along with her casting and executive work, she also became a part of the inaugural class of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women in 1974, an opportunity that led her to direct 105 episodes of Norman Lear’s soap opera satire “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

Born in New York, Hyams was raised in a showbiz family as the daughter of a Broadway producer and publicist Barry Hyams and granddaughter of famed manager Sol Hurok. Her brother, Peter Hyams, became a writer-director whose works included the 1977 thriller “Capricorn One” and the 1981 Sean Connery film “Outland.”

After graduating with a theater arts degree from Syracuse, she got her start in casting at Marion Dougherty Associates, where she worked through the 1960s before moving to L.A. to join Warner Bros.

While there, she got her start in Hollywood casting with the classic 1971 coming-of-age film “Summer of ’42” before going on to cast comedies like Peter Bogdanovich’s “What’s Up Doc?” and Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles.” It was through Hyams that Bogdanovich was introduced to actress Madeline Kahn, who starred in “What’s Up Doc?” as the overbearing fiancee of Ryan O’Neal before starring in an Oscar-nominated performance in “Paper Moon” the following year.

Along with her work on “Mary Hartman,” Hyams’ directorial work included episodes of “Cagney & Lacey” and “Chillers in the late 80s as well as the 1987 film “Leader of the Band.” She later returned to casting with the films “The Saint of Fort Washington” in 1993 and “With Honors” in 1994.

Hyams is survived by her brother, Peter, her sister, Danna; her stepdaughters, Caryn and Pam; and her nephews, Chris, John and Nick.

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