Dawn Leslie Steel (August 19, 1946 – December 20, 1997) was an American film studio executive and producer. She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio, rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head Columbia Pictures in 1987. Early life Steel was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York to Nathan "Nat" Steel (né Spielberg), a zipper salesman to the military and semi-professional weight lifter called the "Man of Steel," and Lillian Steel (née Tarlow), a businesswoman. Lillian Tarlo Steel, Dawn's mother, died from lung cancer at age 55. She was the daughter of Nathan and Rebecca Tarlo, Polish immigrants. She had two brothers named Abraham and Paul. Their name became spelled T-A-R-L-O-W when Abraham joined the US military during World War I. Paul and Abraham's children reside in NYC and Georgia, while Lillian's children live in California. Dawn grew up in Manhattan and in Great Neck, New York, according to her autobiography. She had one sibling, a brother, Larry Steel. Both of her parents were of Russian-Jewish descent. When she was nine years old, Steel's father suffered a nervous breakdown, so her mother was the family's sole support. Steel attended the School of Business Administration at Boston University from 1964 to 1965, but left due to financial problems. She attended New York University from 1966 to 1967, studying marketing, but did not graduate. Career In 1968, Steel worked as a sportswriter for Major League Baseball Digest and the NFL in New York. In 1968, after starting out as a secretary, Steel became merchandising director for Penthouse. In 1975, she founded a merchandising company that produced novelty items such as designer logo toilet paper called Oh Dawn! Inc. One of the products she created was Gucci-logo embellished toilet paper. Within months the Gucci family sued Steel for trademark infringement. Steel hired attorney Sid Davidoff, a former top aide to Mayor John Lindsay. The case was in the news as "toilet paper caper" and was the subject of an editorial cartoon. The case was settled out of court. In 1978, Steel moved to Los Angeles, working as a merchandising consultant for Playboy. Paramount Pictures In 1978, Steel sold her interest in the Oh Dawn! merchandising business to her ex-husband and asked Davidoff to place a call to Hollywood. Davidoff made an introduction to Richard Weston, who ran Paramount Pictures' merchandising