Veteran Publicist Regina Gruss Passes Away

August 6, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Regina Gruss, a veteran studio and independent publicist and ex-member of the board of council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has passed away. She died on August 1 at her Los Angeles residence. It is said that she died from the Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84 years of age.

Gruss started her career in the year 1957 at MGM Studios as the unit publicist on Doris Day’s Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.

She later moved to Fox, and worked for Valley of the Dolls (1967) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), before joining Allen/Ingersoll Public Relations Co.

She worked as an independent publicist in the happening 70s and worked for an array of films like Ray Stark production’s Funny Lady (1975), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Goodbye Girl (1977), and California Suite (1978).

She also handled unit publicity tasks on California Split (1974) by Robert Altman. In the year 1979, she was named the vice president of the advertising and publicity branch for Marble Arch Prods. She was also the receiver of the prestigious Publicists Guild’s Les Mason Award and was named Independent Publicist of the Year thrice.

–Sampurn Wire