Rosenfelt joined
RKO Studios in the studio's legal department for five years following his graduation from Cornell Law School. Rosenfelt left RKO in 1955 and joined
MGM as an attorney the same year. He received a promotion to general counsel of MGM in 1969. Rosenfelt oversaw a number of important MGM movies during the 1960s and 1970s including
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and
The Sunshine Boys (1975). One of his most important MGM accomplishments was the acquisition of the
movie rights for
Doctor Zhivago (1965), which was based on the book of the same name by Russian writer
Boris Pasternak. The rights to
Dr. Zhivago were owned at the time by producer
Carlo Ponti. Rosenfelt was reportedly unsure whether writers in the Communist
Soviet Union had the right to sell their own intellectual properties and writings. He hired an expert in Soviet law which discovered that Russian writers did indeed retain their property rights. Following this discovery, Rosenfelt hired top Russian speaking literature scholars to translate
Dr. Zhivago in a way that would not violate the terms of the contract. Financier
Kirk Kerkorian purchased MGM in 1972 and offered Rosenfelt the position of president, chair and CEO of the
studio. Rosenfelt headed the MGM negotiations for Kerkorian's and MGM's $380 million purchase of
United Artists studios from the
Transamerica Corporation, an insurance corporation, in 1981. United Artists had recently suffered financial losses following the commercial and critical failure of its movie, ''
Heaven's Gate'' (1980). Rosenfelt stepped down as CEO of MGM in 1982 for personal reasons. He was replaced by
Frank Rothman, who was also a lawyer. Rosenfelt was soon named the chief executive of United Artists. He later became vice
chairman of the board of the combined MGM/UA, which required a move to London. Rosenfelt also set up his own independent consulting business. He was on the
board of governors of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1977 to 1985. Rosenfelt was known for his close friendships with a large number of important movie stars, directors, and
studio executives during his Hollywood career. He counted comedian
George Burns, actor
Cary Grant, studio chief
Sherry Lansing and film directors
David Lean and
Stanley Kubrick among his close friends. ==Death==