Disney Chief Brings Calm to Firm Famed for Discord

During his five years as No. 2 to Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner, Bob Iger has earned a reputation as a hard worker, a quick study and, well, a pretty buttoned-down guy.

Steven Bochco came to know another, looser Iger in the early 1990s, when the prolific television producer sat down with the then-head of ABC to map out “NYPD Blue,” a gritty cop show that would feature, among other things, a procession of its stars’ naked derrieres.

“I remember sitting in Bob’s office, just the two of us, with a pad and a pencil, drawing dirty pictures like a couple of sixth graders,” the producer recalled.

Bochco laughs at the memory of using those sessions “to decide what was acceptable and what wasn’t.” But he is quick to credit Iger for developing a clear set of standards for the series, which ran for 12 years beginning in 1993, and for standing by the show when the religious right assailed it for its racy themes.

Bochco and other’s say it is this Iger -- deliberate and steadfast -- who will prove effective when he officially succeeds Eisner at midnight Friday.

“Bob has a terrific metabolism for that job,” Bochco said. “He may not have been the exciting choice, given all of the drama that surrounded the whole issue of succession. But I think he is absolutely the right choice. He knows that company inside and out.”

In a sense, Iger is the flip side of Eisner, who had little compunction about roiling the corporate waters and seeking the spotlight. Iger is known for being more collegial than combative, a man who hopes to create a calmer environment in a company that has been through much upheaval in recent years.

For all practical purposes, Iger, 54, already has put his mark on Disney. Soon after the board picked him in March, Eisner handed over the reins to the entertainment empire, whose theme parks, movies, television networks and consumer products generate more than $30 billion a year. So far, Iger’s drawn good reviews from company insiders, investors and analysts.

For starters, Iger dismantled a strategic planning unit that many executives viewed as Eisner’s right hand in micromanaging the company. He also began talks with Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs, who after clashing openly with Eisner had vowed to end Pixar’s partnership with Disney.

Iger even negotiated a truce with Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold, former directors who led a shareholder revolt against Eisner and filed a lawsuit challenging Iger’s selection as CEO as “a sham.”

Lately, it seems, everyone loves Bob.

In keeping with Hollywood’s tradition of never kick ‘em while they’re up, public criticism of Iger is hard to come by. Even some people who had only good things to say about Iger called his office for clearance before returning a reporter’s calls.

Privately, however, some who have worked with Iger question whether he has the creative chops to replace Eisner, who since 1984 has guided Disney’s revenue growth from $1.5 billion a year to more than 20 times that much. While they rate Iger high on hard work and likability, they are less enthusiastic about his prospects as CEO.

One former associate described Iger as more technocrat than visionary. Another questioned whether his “great temperament and people skills” would translate to creative leadership.

Iger declined requests for an interview and had little to say to reporters Tuesday at a Hollywood Radio and Television Society luncheon for Eisner in Beverly Hills.

“This is Michael’s event,” he said. “I’m trying to avoid it being about me right now.”

His friends and colleagues say such statements typify his modesty. Still, he does seem to relish his achievements.

“I have to admit I’m excited about this opportunity and deeply appreciative to have that,” he said Tuesday.

Last fall, Iger sent an e-mail to the principal of Fulton Avenue School No. 8 in Oceanside, N.Y., as it prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Iger said he’d “heard about the celebration and had wonderful memories” of the school, but could not attend the festivities.

That surprised principal Ronald Schoen because Iger hadn’t been invited. What surprised him even more was Iger’s sentimental connection to the school, which he attended some 40 years earlier. In one of several more e-mails, Iger asked Schoen whether the words, “America’s hope for the future passes through these doors,” still graced the school’s entrance. Yes, the principal told Iger, who then sent another message.

“He said, ‘Isn’t it amazing that a little boy of that age who walked through those doors could actually become president of Disney?’ ” Schoen said.

At Oceanside High School, Iger tried a bit of everything, according to his 1969 senior yearbook. He played intramural softball, was on the Human Relations Club and was president of the Key Club, a sort of junior Kiwanis. He also was sports editor of the school paper, worked as a varsity sports announcer and played Francis Nurse in “The Crucible,” an Arthur Miller play. His senior year he was voted “most enthusiastic,” a title he shared with a classmate.

“He was one of those student government guys,” said his boyhood chum Elliot Krufky, who described Iger as a straight arrow who hung out with a small circle of friends at the local Nathan’s hot dog stand and gathered weekly for nickel-dime poker games at each others’ homes.

“I don’t think I ever saw him be nasty to anybody,” he said. “He wasn’t like one of the cool kids who wouldn’t talk to the other guys.”

Iger majored in broadcasting at Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he worked for the campus TV station and graduated magna cum laude. Since 1989, he has served on the board of trustees and made other contributions, including a gift to the music school that prompted the college to name a 75-seat lecture hall after him.

After a stint as a weatherman, Iger gave up his aspirations to be on the air and joined ABC as a studio supervisor in New York. He later moved to ABC Sports and became vice president of programming in 1987.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, he proved his mettle when the temperature soared to 65 degrees and there wasn’t enough snow for the venues, said Tom Murphy, former chairman of Capital Cities/ABC. It fell to Iger to figure out how to juggle programming for schedule changes caused by the melt.

“We noticed how cool he was under fire,” Murphy said. “As far as the American public was concerned, or the world public, they weren’t conscious of the temperature. It went off very, very well.”

Iger’s well-known work ethic was evident even during his early days in New York, said Patricia Fili-Krushel, who started as a secretary and became president of ABC television before leaving in 2000. She has known Iger since the mid-1970s and says that then, as now, he rose before dawn to work out at a gym and get to the office early.

“I can e-mail him at 6:30 in the morning and get an e-mail back in 10 minutes,” she said.

One of the things that most struck her, Fili-Krushel said, was Iger’s commitment to his family. Married then to a television news producer, Iger left the office each day around 6 to get home for dinner with his two daughters while his wife worked the evening newscasts.

Just last week, Iger combined a trip to New York for the wedding of his daughter, Kate, and an appearance at a Goldman Sachs investment conference, where he loosened up the audience with a joke.

“One thing I learned, by the way, is don’t lend your car to your daughter on the week she is getting married because she is not going to concentrate on driving,” he said. “She told me last night she used the car to pick up her dress and hit something along the way.”

Iger is now married to broadcast journalist Willow Bay, with whom he has two sons.

In 1989, Iger moved to Los Angeles to head ABC’s entertainment division, where he was involved with not only “NYPD Blue” but also with the hit “Home Improvement.” He also took risks with other shows such as “Twin Peaks” and “Cop Rock,” a short-lived musical series by Bochco.

“At first we were wondering who is this guy coming out from sports,” said Stu Bloomberg, a former ABC executive who said Iger quickly “got it.” He and others say Iger is a voracious reader who also scours the Internet -- and retains what he absorbs.

Andy Mooney, who heads Disney’s consumer product division, said Iger quickly learned the complexities of his business.

“He is such a quick study that I can discuss things in shorthand with him,” Mooney said.

In 1994, Iger was named president and chief operating officer of ABC. He was widely considered to be heir apparent to Capital Cities Chairman Murphy. When Murphy sold the company to Disney for $19 billion in 1996, some took it as a signal that he lacked confidence in Iger’s ability to run the company. Murphy denies this.

“That’s a lot of nonsense,” Murphy said. “I sold it because I got a very, very good price for the company and I felt an obligation to take it. It had nothing to do with Bob whatsoever.”

Four years after moving to Disney with ABC, Iger became Eisner’s second-in-command as president in 2000. In a rough and tumble five years since, the company has endured the shareholder revolt led by Roy Disney and Gold; survived a hostile takeover bid by Comcast Corp.; and been dragged through the embarrassing details of a lawsuit over Eisner’s hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, Iger’s predecessor as president.

Eisner and Iger also were cast unflatteringly in “DisneyWar,” James Stewart’s behind-the-curtains book that portrayed Eisner as vindictive and controlling, and Iger as sometimes insecure and too eager to please his mercurial boss.

Iger also had to weather reports that Eisner was repeatedly dismissive of him as his replacement. In a 1996 memo to the Disney board Eisner said Iger “is not an enlightened or brilliantly creative man.” He later expressed his support for Iger, calling him “an excellent guardian of the Disney assets.”

In addition to finally getting Eisner’s backing, Iger also has benefited from Disney’s return to double-digit earnings growth and the remarkable rebound of ABC. The network had languished for several years before being revived last season by the hits “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” His detractors say he is owed little credit for those successes, considering that he fired the two ABC executives most responsible for getting them on the air.

Looking ahead, Iger has said he will concentrate on expanding Disney’s international business and exploiting new technologies to promote the company’s brands. He also has said he will give a hard look to the money the company spends on its film operations. Just two weeks ago, Disney announced that its movie unit would lose $250 million to $300 million this fiscal quarter, largely because of a string of poor-showing Miramax releases.

One of Iger’s biggest hurdles, however, will be to distinguish himself from Eisner.

Producer Brian Grazer said Iger had the benefit of observing “the aggressively creative” Eisner up close -- for good and bad -- and probably would use those observations to shape himself as a leader.

Grazer, who has known Iger for 15 years, disputes the notion that he lacks creativity and says his penchant for privacy is sometimes misinterpreted. Iger has never been a guy to show up at every party, he said, and he doesn’t expect that to change.

“I don’t think he wants that level of intimacy or sees the value in it,” Grazer said. “He’s just the worker. He’s always been the worker. Now he’s the worker and the CEO.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Robert Iger

Title: Chief executive, Walt Disney Co., as of midnight Friday

Born: Feb. 10, 1951, in New York, N.Y.

First job: TV weatherman, Ithaca, N.Y., 1973-74

Other jobs: Studio supervisor, ABC-TV, 1974-76; various positions, ABC Sports, 1976-88; executive vice president, ABC TV Network Group, 1988-89; president, ABC Entertainment, 1989-92; executive vice president, Capital Cities/ABC, 1993-94; president, ABC, 1994-99; president and chief operating officer, Walt Disney Co., 2000-2005

Education: B.A., Ithaca College, 1973

Family: Married to former CNN anchor Willow Bay, 1995. Has two sons from current marriage; two daughters from previous marriage.

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Times staff writer Richard Verrier contributed to this report.