Literary ‘superagent’ Mort Janklow dies at 91

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Literary ‘superagent’ Mort Janklow, whose clients included Ronald Reagan and Barbara Walters, has died at age 91. The cause was heart failure. He was a colorful former corporate attorney who brokered big contracts for political, publishing and entertainment leaders. Besides Reagan and Walters, his clients included Al Gore, David McCullough and William Safire. In 1988, he and fellow agent Lynn Nesbit founded Janklow & Nesbit Associates, where authors also included Tom Wolfe and Robert Caro. Janklow was credited, and faulted, for the proliferation of blockbuster books and million-dollar deals in the 1970s and beyond.