Eric Gardner, Chairman and CEO of Panacea Entertainment who began his career coordinating tours for Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead before pivoting to talent management for such clients as Paul Shaffer, Donny Osmond, The Sex Pistols, as well as members of The Rolling Stones, The E Street Band and The Who, died at his home in Camarillo, California, July 19 from complications of pneumonia. He was 74.
His death was announced by Janis Gardner, his wife and Panacea Entertainment co-owner.
Born Eric Winslow Gardner on November 20, 1949, Garner’s long and notable career as a talent manager, film, television, and Las Vegas residency show producer began in 1970 when he started coordinating tours for the bands Jefferson Airplane, KISS, and the Grateful Dead. By 1973 his company Panacea Entertainment Corp. was coordinating tours for major bands in 23 countries around the world.
In 1974 Panacea’s emphasis shifted to talent management and over the year’s Eric represented such diverse artists as Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, Kenney Jones of The Who/ Faces/Small Faces, Todd Rundgren, Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, The Stray Cats, Jefferson Starship, John Lydon, Hot Tuna, Blue Oyster Cult, Jim Steinman, David Hasselhoff, Richard Belzer, Timothy Leary, Richard Chamberlain, Grace Jones, Bettye La Vette and others.
Gardner expanded into television in 1981 with his signing of Cassandra Peterson, better known as horror host Elvira, whom Gardner helped catapult from a local television artist into an international film and television phenomenon. Gardner produced Elvira’s Halloween TV special in 1986, the feature film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark in 1988, and a slate of other films and specials many featuring his clients, including the 2000 Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury.
In 2009 Gardner launched and produced the long-running Donny & Marie Osmond show at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in association with Caesar’s Entertainment. He co-produced with Planet Hollywood, also in Las Vegas, the Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band’s residency shows, and, once again with Caesar’s Entertainment, he produced Paul Shaffer and the Shaff-Shifters residency shows.
In 2016, Gardner executive produced the comic mockumentary TV series Hoff The Record starring David Hasselhoff which won the “Best Comedy Series” at the International Emmy Awards in 2016.
At the time of his death, Gardner had several project in the works, according to his family, including a Blues Brothers primetime animated TV series in partnership with the late Judy Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and adapting the The Blues Brothers movie into a stage musical. He also had planned Sharknado the Musical in Las Vegas in partnership with Caesar’s Entertainment/Greg Young/The Asylum, a Hellraiser TV series with former New World Entertainment Chairman, Larry Kuppin and a feature film biopic with HBO about Timothy Leary.
In addition to his wife, Gardner is survived by daughters Cameron, Madeleine, and Nathalie.
