Jarvis Joseph Astaire, OBE (6 October 1923 – 21 August 2021) was a British sports executive, boxing promoter, and film producer.[1]

Astaire

Life and career

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Astaire was born Joseph Golombovitch in Stepney, East London on 6th October 1923. He was the leading boxing promoter in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s.[citation needed] He co-promoted with Harry Levine and matchmaker Mickey Duff. Astaire produced Agatha.[2] He was Consultant to the Sport Division of First Artist Corp. plc from February 2009 on.[3]

For much of the early 1970s Astaire owned a controlling stake in Joint Promotions, the former cartel that was the UK's largest professional wrestling organisation from the early 1950s to the late 1980s and which held a monopoly on television coverage of wrestling on ITV for most of the that period. He would later play a key role in bringing the WWF's SummerSlam '92 event to Wembley Stadium before a crowd of around 80,000.[4]

Astaire died in August 2021, at the age of 97.[5][6]

His nephew is the writer, film producer, and media advisor Simon Astaire.[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ "Astaire's war dance over Wembley". The Independent. 7 March 1999.
  2. ^ ""Jarvis Astaire - 1983" from the gallery Former Chief Barkers". Variety. 9 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Jarvis Astaire". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 March 2014.[dead link]
  4. ^ Lister, John. ""The History of British Wrestling"". British Wrestling Reunion website.
  5. ^ Lewis, Ron (23 August 2021). "Jarvis Astaire, Hall of Fame Promoter, Passes Away at Age 97". Boxing Scene.
  6. ^ Rawling, John (23 August 2021). "Jarvis Astaire obituary". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "No 2,030". 25 April 2002.
  8. ^ Harlow, John. "Can a PR prince win us round to Princess Pushy?".