Reality TV star Jade Goody became a national icon in the weeks before her death on Sunday, largely thanks to one man who pulls the strings in Britain's tabloid press - publicist Max Clifford.
Clifford's success in reviving Goody's career and publicizing every step of her battle with cervical cancer will be a professional high - even if by the end, he had his doubts about how much celebrity had become her way of life.
With his white hair and blue eyes framed by dark eyebrows, the 65-year-old Londoner has a good-natured demeanor and believes in the importance of a having a good relationship with his clients.
He employs nine people at his offices in London's upmarket Mayfair district, to deal with a varied clientele ranging from fallen showbiz stars, politicians trying to hide a scandal or C-list celebs hoping to make it big.
Clifford left school with no qualifications but got his PR start at record label EMI. He started his own business aged 27 and has since worked with Frank Sinatra, Mohammed Ali, OJ Simpson and Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, with such success that he says he has never had to bid for work.
Clifford realized early on how to win notoriety for his clients, however obscure. One trick was to feed newspapers a story only to deny it the next morning, thereby ensuring the maximum coverage.
In 1986, The Sun published a now legendary headline: "Freddie Starr ate my hamster", concerning a little-known comedian, Clifford's client. The story of Starr eating a hamster-sandwich was quickly denied - but his fame was assured.
Clifford acts both as an intermediary for people who have a story to sell, and as a block between journalists and those who have something to hide - as "poacher and gamekeeper at the same time", as his website puts it.
Although few doubt his effectiveness, many in his profession look down on Clifford, who Al Fayed once described as "a rat who wallows in the cesspits of life," according to the Guardian newspaper.
In March 2008, Clifford became Jade Goody's agent just as she was trying to restart her career. Her popularity, won through an appearance on TV show "Big Brother," had plunged because of her alleged racist insults against Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on a celebrity version of the show in 2007.
Shetty herself employed Clifford to deal with the media storm over the series, and he set up newspaper interviews and a successful line of perfume.
The two women appeared together on the Indian version of "Big Brother" last year, where Goody sought to tackle her critics and made up with Shetty.
Goody was on the show when she learned she had cervical cancer, and decided to sell the media rights to her last few months to earn money to support her two sons after she died.
Clifford negotiated the rights to her February wedding with Living TV, and agreed a lucrative contract - reportedly worth a million pounds ($1.4 million) - with OK! magazine for the photos.
He drip-fed news and snap-shots from her struggle with cancer, ensuring widespread coverage and increasing public support, while at the same time adding to Goody's fortune that was last year estimated at two million pounds.
But faced with a young woman who lived her entire adult life under the camera and looked set to die the same way, even Clifford had his doubts.
"My attitude to Jade in recent times is: 'Don't you think enough is enough? Don't you think you've got the message out there? The money that you wanted for the boys we've done, we've made," he told TalkSport radio earlier this month.
But Goody had it all planned out, saying she wanted a public funeral. "Jade wanted a celebration of her life. It will be very much a Jade Goody Production with Jade doing her own thing her own way," Clifford said on Sunday.
(China Daily/AFP, March 24, 2009)
