Herbert Siegel, Hollywood ‘White Knight’ Dealmaker, Dies at 95

Herbert Siegel, who turned boatmaker Chris-Craft Industries Inc. into a media company that he later sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for more than $5 billion, has died. He was 95.

He died at his home in New York City on Aug. 5 of heart failure, the New York Times reported, citing his wife Jeanne.

Herbert Siegel in 2013.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Siegel amassed large stakes in Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., vexing the incumbent managers before selling his positions at a considerable profit. His actions triggered the 1966 sale of Paramount to Charles Bluhdorn’s Gulf & Western Industries Inc. and ...