Judy Ovitz

Judy Ovitz (born Judith Reich) is an American actress, arts patron, and community leader best known as the wife of Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz. She appeared in three major studio films released in 1989 and 1994, including Ghostbusters II (1989), where she played the memorable Slimed Restaurant Patron.

Career

Judy Ovitz's professional background spans acting, singing, public relations, advertising, and film production. She collaborated with her husband at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the talent agency Michael Ovitz co-founded in 1975 and built into the dominant force in Hollywood representation throughout the 1980s and 1990s.¹

Her screen credits include:²

• Back to the Future Part II (1989, dir. Robert Zemeckis): Antique Store Saleswoman at the "Blast from the Past" memorabilia shop in the film's future setting.
• Ghostbusters II (1989, dir. Ivan Reitman): Slimed Restaurant Patron (see below).
• Junior (1994, dir. Ivan Reitman): Stewardess.
• A Christmas Carol (1997): Voice role.

Beyond screen work, Ovitz has been a significant patron of the performing arts in Southern California. Her board affiliations have included UCLA's Humanities Council, the Revlon UCLA Women's Health Council, St. John's Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Women's Guild, the Music Center's Blue Ribbon, and event coordination for American Ballet Theater.³

She joined the Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) Board of Directors around 2011 and rose to serve as Vice President. She hosted the OPC's annual benefit for three consecutive years at her private ranch in upper Ojai and was honored by the organization at its 2015 Town and Country Gala alongside theater director Gordon Davidson.³⁴ She later served as an Emeritus board member. In addition to her arts work, Ovitz has pursued show horse breeding and competes on the American Quarter Horse Association national circuit.⁵

Ghostbusters II

In Ghostbusters II (1989), Judy Ovitz played the Slimed Restaurant Patron, one of the film's most memorable minor characters. The scene takes place at Armand's Restaurant on New Year's Eve, 1989 (Chapter 19: "Scaring the Straights").⁶ Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore burst into the dining room in their long underwear covered in ectoplasmic residue, searching for Peter Venkman and Dana Barrett. Ray inadvertently splashes ectoplasmic residue on the woman as they pass, and the irate patron follows them out with her date (the Slimed Patron's Date, played by Peter Mosen).⁷ The two characters also appear in the background of a subsequent street scene.⁷

The character and her date were brought back in IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5,⁸ appearing in a scene set in Armand's Restaurant and giving the pair an extended life in the comics continuity.

In an early draft of the screenplay dated August 5, 1988, the patron is struck by a large roach carcass rather than slime. In the NOW Comics adaptation The Real Ghostbusters Starring in Ghostbusters II Part 3, the Slimed Restaurant Patron is depicted as male rather than female.

The connection to the wider Ghostbusters circle is more than coincidental: Michael Ovitz, as chairman of CAA, represented Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and director Ivan Reitman during the period when the original Ghostbusters franchise was at the height of its commercial power.⁷¹

Personal life

Judy Reich met Michael Ovitz in college. He introduced her to his fraternity and she was named their sweetheart. They married on August 3, 1969.¹ They have three children: Kimberly Ovitz, a fashion designer; Chris Ovitz, an entrepreneur in digital media and entertainment; and Eric Ovitz.²