Movie Mogul's Starring Role in Raising Funds for Obama

Movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, the famously aggressive 61-year-old chief executive of DreamWorks Animation who dropped out of New York University nearly four decades ago to climb the Hollywood ladder, has made himself indispensable to President Barack Obama—a trait he honed under former studio chiefs Barry Diller and Michael Eisner.

With more Wall Street donors switching sides to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney; unions weakened by attrition and parochial fights; and big-pursed liberals dismayed by White House foot-dragging on the environment and other pet causes, the Obama campaign needs Katzenberg more than ever. Last year, Katzenberg wrote a $2 million check to jump-start Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting the president. His fundraising work has yielded as much as $7 million over the past five years, making him among the largest of Obama's campaign bundlers, according to a campaign aide.