Bill Treusch, the admired New York-based talent manager who jump-started the career of Sissy Spacek and represented Christopher Walken, Diane Keaton, Viggo Mortensen, Richard Jenkins and many others during his five-decade career, has died. He was 80.

Treusch died Tuesday in New York after a long illness, his niece Shannon Treusch, founder and partner of the public relations firm Falco Ink., announced.

Treusch got his big break when legendary casting director Marion Dougherty recognized his eye for talent and gave him an office in her basement at East 30th Street in Manhattan. There, he launched Bill Treusch & Associates, later known as Bill Treusch Management. (The story is told in the 2012 documentary Casting By, directed by Tom Donahue.)

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His firm started as a one-man band before evolving into a powerhouse management company.

He was especially helpful to Spacek, who was a struggling singer and actress from Texas when they first met in the late 1960s. She talked about his warm smile and the fact he always wore a crisp white shirt while singling him out in her 2012 memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life.

“The day I met Bill, everything changed,” she wrote. “I dragged my two guitars into his office, and we talked for a long time, and then I sang and played a few songs for him. Before I knew it, we were having dinner together and meeting some of his other clients and going to the theater. We just clicked from the moment we met. He believed in me from the start.”

Treusch also helped guide the careers of Melissa Leo, Tom Hulce, Eric Roberts, Tom Berenger, Peter Weller, Carol Kane, John Heard, Sandy Dennis, Karen Grassle, Oliver Platt, Matt Bomer, June Havoc, Kevin Conway, Melanie Mayron, Shawn Hatosy, Matthew Lillard, Holt McCallany, Stephen McHattie, Regina Baff, Graham Beckel, Brad Beyer, Rudolf Martin, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Luke Reilly, Antonia Rey, Kathryn Walker and many others.

Born on March 16, 1942, William Treusch was an autograph collector who attended Boston University. He became a personal assistant to actor Montgomery Clift and then a theatrical talent agent at Dudley Field Malone.

He joined Dougherty’s casting office as an assistant in the 1970s and also worked with Juliet Taylor, Wallis Nicita and Gretchen Rennell.

Treusch was known as a mentor to generations of producers, casting directors, agents, managers and young writers and directors including Joe Mantello and Peter Hedges. His influence on New York film and theater in the ’70s and ’80s was profound.

In addition to his niece Shannon, survivors include his sister, Maureen Cunningham; her husband, John; and other nieces and nephews Tara, Colin and Meghan Cunningham and Ken Treusch, a talent manager and partner at Bleecker Street Entertainment.

Donations in his name may be made to The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund).

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