Marie Kozak

Marie Kozak (née Clap) was a former executive assistant at the agency General Artists Corporation, as well as the management firm that represented singer Nat King Cole.

In 1948, she joined the New York office of GAC as a secretary and eventually became the executive assistant to the agency's founder, Buddy Howe.

A few years later, she and several other agents relocated to GAC's Los Angeles office, where she worked for one of GAC's founding agents, Henry Miller. She assisted Miller in coordinating the tour schedules of such artists as Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee and the Mills Brothers, and also read scripts for the agency's literary department.

In 1958, she was asked by Cole and Lee's manager, Carlos Gastel, to help run his management company, which also represented Stan Kenton and Mel Torme. She remained with Gastel until her marriage to William Morris agent Elliott Kozak, and retired after the birth of their first child together in 1963.

The couple had four children, two of whom went on to work in television: Steven, clearance director at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Julie, wardrobe supervisor at Extra!

Kozak died on August 16, 2016, in Woodland Hills, California. She was 89.