Ken Kragen

Ken Kragen was an American television producer.

Kragen produced The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Kenny Rogers' Gambler movies and was the creative force behind the humanitarian projects We Are the World and Hands Across America.

Kragen managed the careers of Rogers and other entertainers including Lionel Richie, the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Burt Reynolds, the Smothers Brothers and Trisha Yearwood.

He joined The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as a production coordinator in 1967, then served as executive producer during the show's third and final season in 1968-69.

Kragen also wrote the 1994 best-selling book Life Is a Contact Sport: Ten Great Career Strategies That Work.

Kragen received two Emmy nominations, two MTV Awards, an American Music Award and a Manager of the Year Award from the Conference of Personal Managers and was the only person elected president of both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music.

In 2005, he produced The 12 Dogs of Christmas, a full-length video feature based on his daughter Emma's children's book that has sold more than 1.2 million DVDs.

Kragen died December 14, 2021 in Brentwood, California. He was 85.