– that she was fired as President of Production at Paramount. Legacy In her obituary for The New York Times, Nora Ephron said: Dawn certainly wasn't the first woman to become powerful in Hollywood, but she was the first woman to understand that part of her responsibility was to make sure that eventually there were many other powerful women. She hired women as executives, women as producers and directors, women as marketing people. The situation we have today, with a huge number of women in powerful positions, is largely because of Dawn Steel. Steel's career at Paramount as Chief of Production was referenced in the HBO series Entourage, in the Season Three (2006) episode "What About Bob?", when fictional producer Bob Ryan asks Ari Gold whether Dawn Steel would still be working there, to which Ari replies: "Bob, Dawn Steel died nine years ago." Awards In 1989, Steel was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. Personal life Steel's father changed the family surname from "Spielberg" before her birth. The name Steel was chosen to reflect her father's weightlifting career. In 1975, Steel married Ronnie Rothstein, a former business partner in the Oh Dawn! merchandising company. She dated young struggling actor Richard Gere in 1975 and director Martin Scorsese (after his divorce from Isabella Rossellini) in 1983. In 1985, she married film producer Charles Roven with whom she had a daughter, Rebecca Steel Roven, in 1987. Death In April 1996, at age 49, Steel was diagnosed with brain cancer and ultimately died on December 20, 1997, after a 20-month battle against the disease. Her film City of Angels was dedicated to her memory. Filmography She was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. Film Television Works and publications Steel, Dawn. They Can Kill You but They Can't Eat You: Lessons from the Front. New York: Pocket Books, 1993. Steel, Dawn. They Can Kill You but They Can't Eat You. New York: Simon & Schuster AudioWorks, 1993. Audio book read by the author (cassette format). . See also Film producers List of notable brain tumor patients References External links Dawn Steel at Find a Grave American film studio executives Film producers from New York (state) American media executives 20th-century American memoirists American women in film