One of New York's most ubiquitous (and despised) publicists, Peggy Siegal is best known for orchestrating some of the city's biggest parties and movie screenings.

A Syracuse grad, Siegal started off her career in 1976 working for PR legend Bobby Zarem. Like any savvy aspiring PR queen, she left Zarem's employ with his little black book of names and phone numbers and quickly started building an agency of her own, largely modeling her entertainment-focused firm on Zarem's, putting together glitzy parties for movie premieres and other opening night extravaganzas. In 2000, she merged her firm with Lizzie Grubman's PR agency. Unfortunately, Grubman's notorious Hamptons car crash in 2001 occurred shortly after the pact was sealed and Siegal soon washed her hands of the mess. After splitting with Grubman, she formed WSC PR with partners Harriet Weintraub and Virginia Coleman, before leaving again to go solo.

For years, Siegal's business has been getting the A-list to attend screenings and parties. Her events attract a mix of elites: Wall Street machers, media bigwigs, and fashion moguls. But her longtime stranglehold on the chichi-screening market has eroded recently with Andrew Saffir's Cinema Society now encroaching on her turf, organizing more intimate screenings that attract a similarly high-powered (if somewhat younger) crowd.

Siegal has long stirred up controversy for her diva-like behavior, nasty feuds, and penchant for behind-the-back gossip. Dozens of the aspiring young publicists who have worked in Siegal's office over the years have stories to tell about her ferocious temper and fits of rage, and people who piss her off for any number of reasons get punished. Siegal's single. (She reportedly once offered a new Mercedes to any staffer who set her up on date which resulted in marriage.) She used to date financier Richard Nye, until he forcibly evicted her, packing her clothes into garbage bags and tossing them into the driveway of his house in Southampton. Not that she's bitter, though. "I'm not married, but I'm thin. The ones who were married are now divorced and fat." [Image via Getty]