Women don’t have it easy in Hollywood. And they didn’t back in the ’80s when former New York Times Magazine editor Lynda Obst got her start as a producer. As famously chronicled in her 1996 book “Hello, He Lied — and Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches,” she sold her first movie “Flashdance” (1983) to Dawn Steel at Paramount, only to have the newly minted production team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer take over along with all the credit for its breakout success. Still, it was a winner for the Associate Producer, and she was on her way.

Always a heavy smoker, Obst passed away at age 74 from Copd (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). She was devoted to her family, including her brother, agent Rick Rosen, and son Oly, a producer/manager, whom she has described as “my confidant and best friend.”

“She was a trailblazer for women in the industry...