He left in 1960 to co-found the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA) with fellow MCA agent Freddie Fields.
[2] Their clients included Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Woody Allen, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Jackie Gleason and Fred Astaire.
At CMA, Fields and Begelman pioneered the movie "package", where the talent agency put their stars, directors and writers together on a single project.
Begelman used his package method at Columbia, dramatically changing the company's image by producing such hits as Shampoo (1975), Funny Lady (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) verified that the $10,000 check was a forgery, and it was tracked to Begelman.
"[4]A writer for New West magazine, working on this story, queried Begelman's claimed alma mater, Yale University, listed in his Who's Who entry.
In addition, Begelman told Garland a photo existed of her, partially nude, having her stomach pumped in a hospital emergency room after a drug overdose in London, and that blackmailers were demanding $50,000 to turn over the picture and all negatives.
As she was in negotiations with CBS at the time for her new television series, Garland paid rather than face the adverse publicity and potentially damaging the deal's prospects.
Rather than confront Begelman at a time when he was playing such a pivotal role in her show business re-emergence, Garland decided to eat the financial losses based upon the promise of millions coming from the deal with CBS.
Due to her dire financial situation at the time, Garland was forced to settle the suit for royalties owed her by Capitol Records that Begelman and Fields, as her agents, had collected but were holding because of the lawsuit.
[6] In 1981, MGM acquired United Artists and in October, Begelman was appointed as chairman and CEO of UA[6] but with the exception of Fame, Clash of the Titans, and Poltergeist, he was unable to repeat his success at Columbia and was dismissed in 1982.
According to the makers of Buckaroo Banzai, Begelman continued to be engaged in fraud: reporting inflated figures to investors but producing the films for much less to pocket the difference.
[citation needed] When investor Nelson Bunker Hunt pulled out of Sherwood in 1984, Begelman took the slack and founded Gladden Entertainment (named after Gladyce, his wife)[9] with the remaining assets[10] and repartnering with McNall.
A petition was filed by Hollywood's three major talent guilds in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles to liquidate the company for failure to pay actors, directors and writers residuals in the amount of $4.1 million.