Company History

The Truman Van Dyke Company is a leading insurance agency specializing in the field of entertainment. Incorporated in 1953 as a partnership between Truman Van Dyke Sr. and his son, our name represents 56 years of continuous entertainment insurance expertise.

Truman Van Dyke Sr. Circa 1927

The name Truman Van Dyke has long been associated with filmed entertainment. Born November 15th, 1897 in Natchez Mississippi, Truman Van Dyke Sr. became a silent film actor at the age of 21. When talking pictures came along his heavy southern accent ended his film career and he became an insurance agent. With the connections made during his film career he naturally ended up with many entertainment related clients. Eventually entertainment became a majority of his business and he began to specialize in the insurance needs of entertainers, producers, directors and various film trades people.

Truman Sr. married an aspiring costume designer named Irene Brouillet. She went on to an acclaimed career of her own known as Renié, culminating in an Oscar award for costume design in 1964 for "Cleopatra". Truman Van Dyke Sr. and Irene Brouillet had one child, Truman Van Dyke Jr. Born in 1927, Truman Van Dyke Jr. appeared in several feature films as a young boy, including the part of the paperboy in the classic train station scene of "Gone With The Wind".

In 1953 Truman Jr. joined with his father, and the The Truman Van Dyke Company was born. Initially the agency specialized as it had since 1935, in the insurance needs of the entertainment professional. In 1969 we wrote our first insurance policy for a film production, and the agency began its specialization in film and television productions, errors and omissions and commercial insurance for entertainment businesses.

Today the Truman Van Dyke Company is one of the most respected entertainment insurance agencies in the industry. Supporting our vision are a cast of senior entertainment insurance professionals, including Kent Hamilton, Executive Vice President, with the firm for over 20 years, and Bill Hudson, Vice President, an industry veteran with over 25 years of entertainment insurance experience.