Their relationship was not always cordial, and Heath later recalled that his father disapproved of him entering the entertainment industry, adding that he "wanted me to go work in some dark Satanic mill somewhere".

[3] Contrary to his father's wishes, he began his career in advertising, and, in 1971, joined the William Morris Agency in London as a runner, beginning at the very bottom of the industry.

"[3] He found the money to start the business by betting the remains of his wages from William Morris on a horse that his mother had running at Newbury.

[3] He bought a fifty per cent stake in a company owned and run by Christopher Long, a former ICM agent, though at first business was slow.

In August 2007, at the Venice Film Festival, he announced that ICM UK would be renamed the Independent Talent Group, of which he is now co-chairman.

[5] In 2000, he was a jury member for the British Independent Film Awards[1] Heath married actress Hilary Dwyer in 1974, although they were divorced in 1989.