NEW YORK - Sam Cohn, a powerful talent agent for some of Hollywood and Broadway's biggest stars as well as a pantheon of directors, writers and playwrights, has died. He was 79.

Family friend David Richenthal said Cohn died Wednesday at New York Presbyterian Hospital following a brief illness.

During his career, Cohn's clients at International Creative Management were a who's who of show business, most prominently in the 1970s and '80s. They included Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen, Lily Tomlin, Kathleen Turner, Vanessa Redgrave, Arthur Miller, Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron, Robert Altman, Bob Fosse, Sigourney Weaver, E.L. Doctorow and Jackie Gleason.

The elusive Cohn, known for not returning phone calls, retired earlier this year from ICM, which he co-founded in the mid-1970s.

Cohn, known as a master dealmaker, acquired an almost mythical status, particularly after the publication of a New Yorker profile in 1982. The article, in listing his previous year's accomplishments, said, "10 feature films and nine Broadway or off-Broadway plays opened that were written, directed or produced by one of his clients or in which a Cohn client had a major acting role."

He also was an ardent New Yorker, rarely traveling to Los Angeles for work.

When Cohn retired in February, ICM Chairman Jeff Berg told the trade publication Variety: "Sam mastered so many disciples of the agency business: film, TV, publishing and stage. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music and American theater."

Born May 11, 1929, in Altoona, Pa., Cohn graduated from Princeton University and Yale Law School. He began his career in television, working for CBS in its business affairs department. After a stint with a law firm, he joined General Artists Corp., which merged with Creative Management Associates before helping to form ICM.

Cohn is survived by wife Jane Gelfman; daughter Marya, son Peter and four grandchildren.