He earned money to put himself through college by working as a mail carrier and a cameraman in a movie studio.
Feldman combined his background as a lawyer with his celebrity connections to help find and contract jobs.
[8] As an agent, he became friends with major Hollywood figures like Jack Warner, Sam Goldwyn,[7] Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, and John Wayne, among others.
[9] In June 1942, Feldman signed Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott and John Wayne and presented them to Universal for Pittsburgh along with the script and director as a "package".
It was Feldman who suggested to Jack Warner (as a friend) that he recut Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep (1946) and add scenes to enhance Lauren Bacall's performance,[14] which he felt was more or less a "bit part" in the 1945 cut.
In 1947, he announced a deal that his company would help make three films at Republic Pictures: Orson Welles's Macbeth (1948), Lewis Milestone's The Red Pony (1949) and Ben Hecht's The Shadow.
[16][18] On March 1, 1948, Feldman filed a $1,000,000 damage lawsuit against ten people and companies associated with the production of the film Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: Universal-International Pictures, Norma Productions, Eagle-Lion Films, Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Richard Vernon, Gerald Butler, Phil Berg-Bert Allenberg (Berg was Fontaine's agent, who had little to do with the film but was reputable enough to attract attention to the suit), and Allan Collins (president of Curtis Brown Limited's American division, which sold the rights to the novel).
[20] Feldman may have been holding a grudge against Lancaster, who had been approached to co-star in his production of Red River, right before its shooting began in September 1946.
It is unknown under which circumstances he and his agent turned Feldman down, but Lancaster's part was quickly offered to Montgomery Clift.
Universal-International Pictures proceeded with the production of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as planned, paying little attention to the lawsuit, which was eventually sustained by Judge Stanley Barnes at the Los Angeles Superior Court on July 6, 1948, long after filming had wrapped up.
They fought frequently, and divorced in 1947; however, they remained good friends and even continued to share a house for some time.