Swan

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Powerful music mogul and head of the Death Records label in the 1974 film Phantom of the Paradise. He makes and breaks acts as suits his whims. He is obsessed with building the ultimate concert hall, The Paradise, and finding the right music and act to sing on its opening night.

He discovers the music of unknown composer Winslow Leach, steals it, has Leach beaten up and drugs planted on him, which lands Leach in Sing Sing and forced to get experimental teeth implanted, thanks to the Swan Foundation. When Leach finds out Swan is going to use his music to open the Paradise, and worse, it's going to be performed by Swan's 1950s nostalgia act The Juicy Fruits, he breaks out, vandalizes the Death Records pressing plant, but accidentally gets his head caught in a record press, hideously deforming him, and destroying his voice.

He steals some costumes and a masked helmet and turns himself into the Phantom to revenge himself on Swan and haunt his new music club. He tries to blow up the Juicy Fruits during rehearsal, and Swan immediately tries to co-opt him! Swan creates a voice synthesizer for Leach so he can speak again, and agrees to Leach's demand that only singer Phoenix can sing his material. He gets Leach to rewrite everything for her, then steals his music AGAIN, and gives it to his new discovery, Beef.

Swan's posh New York estate is known as The Swanage.

Turns out Swan sold his soul to the Devil in 1953 for eternal youth. His weakness is the ole "Portrait of Dorian Gray" gambit. A videotape of Swan will age instead of him, but the movie totally forgets to do this. The Phantom burns the tape, and confronts Swan, ripping off his mask to reveal his now hideously aged face. Swan and the Phantom fight to the death, er, that is, both of their deaths.

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