Now publicists have so much power," says one veteran Hollywood publicist, "that they don't have to be nice.

The cause was complications from pneumonia, his friend Stephen Huvane, a Hollywood publicist, said.

Some stylists and Hollywood publicists speculated that a few of their clients may well mute their style.

"We sit around and eat carrots and celery and wait to be called," the Hollywood publicist said.

I would only trust a good Hollywood publicist.

"It will take the indies out of the race," said one Hollywood publicist who spoke on condition of anonymity.

She was 105, including the three years that Hollywood publicists subtracted in the 1930's.

Some Hollywood publicists say the strategies employed by prominent members of the profession during last summer's celebrity meltdowns demonstrate their diminishing power with the press.

The notion that a person's whole life could become a basket of marketable product features, however, probably started with the Hollywood publicists and press.

He later became a journalist and moved on to become a Hollywood publicist and later, a screenwriter.