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An Agency Death Wish

CMG Worldwide, a once-dominant agency in posthumous talent representation, is entangled in legal battles over James Dean and Roberto Clemente rights. But does Hollywood’s long-standing fixation on “life rights” miss the bigger picture?

Roberto Clemente
Legendary believed it still owned the rights, which was made clear when Legendary sold those rights, in 2022, to producers making a new Clemente biopic. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
March 26, 2025

You’d think that talent representation for the deceased would be a thriving business in an age where long-dead celebrities can be digitally reanimated to sell cologne, hawk crypto, or star in films they never agreed to. But CMG Worldwide, the once-indomitable agency that spent decades monetizing posthumous fame and lobbying for the laws that made it all possible, is finding that the afterlife isn’t what it used to be.