THE CELEBRITY AGENT MARK ROESLER is telling me about a new client he’s just taken on – a big name with global reach. Roesler has already managed – in the four months they’ve been working together – to secure him a top advertising gig that went out during this year’s Super Bowl to an estimated 120 million viewers. “I’ve really learned just how big he is, that’s for sure,” enthuses Roesler. He’s talking about Albert Einstein.
Roesler, you see, is a celebrity agent with a difference – the 68-year-old works predominantly with famous people who are no longer alive. Also on his books are Neil Armstrong, Aaliyah, Rosa Parks, Burt Reynolds, Bette Davis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Ingrid Bergman, Alan Turing and hundreds more dead celebrities – or “delebrities” as they’re sometimes called. It’s a roster that has made him one of the world’s most successful agents to the afterlife, and an expert in a field that is growing all the time. Because, according to Forbes, being dead doesn’t necessarily mean being unprofitable. Their stats show Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley both raking in more than $100m each year, with other big hitters including Dr Seuss ($40m), Prince ($30m), Arnold Palmer and Marilyn Monroe (both $10m).
In the four decades since he started as a delebrity agent, Roesler says his company, CMG Worldwide, has represented 3,000 deceased entertainment, sports, music and historical personalities. And the opportunities to earn a crust from beyond the grave have never been better, with holographic and AI technology resurrecting dead stars’ voices and likenesses so that they can get back on the live circuit
