Walter Boxer, Longtime United Artists Executive, Dies at 99

Mike Barnes
·2 min read

Walter Boxer, who spent more than four decades as a charismatic, globe-trotting executive with United Artists, has died. He was 99.

Boxer died Nov. 29 in hospice care in West Hollywood following a series of strokes, his nephew Lawrence Wolinsky told The Hollywood Reporter.

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Boxer, who spoke four languages, started out at UA in 1955 in New York and represented the company as a liaison with filmmakers in Sydney; Johannesburg, where he lived for about a decade; Bangkok, where he became close with members of Thailand’s royal family; and London before retiring in 1999.

A major player in London and Hollywood film circles, Boxer was placed by society columnists through the years dining with very famous people at the very best tables at the very best restaurants or escorting the likes of Lauren Bacall to classical concerts.

“He was a real people person,” his nephew said.

The youngest of two children, Walter Stanley Boxer was born on May 31, 1924, in Forest Hills, New York. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism and served with the U.S. Air Force as a gunner and navigator with the 416th Bombardment Group in Normandy on D-Day.

After the service, Boxer moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a rep for the Silverwoods department store chain and as a radio announcer on The Al Jarvis Show before joining United Artists Corp. Before long, he was off to Sydney.

Boxer also served as a producer on the Esai Morales-starring Rainy Day Friends (1985), written and directed by noted stuntman Gary Kent.

Boxer never married or had kids but was in a “close, personal relationship” for many years with Guy Greengard, owner of Mr. Guy, the luxury men’s clothing store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Wolinsky noted.

Survivors include another nephew, Alan.

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