(FORTUNE Magazine) – In the town that produces buddy movies, Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner finally settled on his own, with the naming of superagent Michael Ovitz as the new Disney president and his "partner" in all great Disney ventures to come. "We will be totally interchange able in everything we do," Eisner vowed happily, in just one of a string of interviews he conducted to celebrate his coup.

Ovitz, a founder and chairman of Creative Artists Agency, had long been considered a CEO candidate for major entertainment companies, yet here he was, accepting a No. 2 job. It was Eisner's good fortune that Ovitz, 48, was ripe for the offer after he overplayed his hand in negotiating for the chief executive's job at MCA. Former Hollywood executive Barry Diller, also rumored to have been a candidate, says Eisner had "the luck of the moment. You can't go out and hire Michael Ovitz any day of the week."

The 53-year-old Disney chairman had been dubbed the loneliest man in the kingdom after he dumped longtime studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg a year ago. Eisner refused to name him president after the April 1994 death of Frank Wells in a helicopter crash. While recuperating from emergency heart surgery, Eisner had stubbornly pressed ahead in isolation, instigating a massive shakeup of his division executives and naming some Hollywood newcomers to his top corporate posts. Critics said that the once charming Eisner had grown para noid. Despite his creative flair and quick wit, Eisner is a guarded individual who has few close friends. He trusts few people. Ovitz is one of the few.

It's fascinating that the buddy system should prevail in such an egocentric business as entertainment. Yet consider: Warner Bros.' Robert Daly and Terry Semel; MCA's recently retired Lew Wasserman and Sidney Sheinberg. And there's Capital Cities/ABC's longtime duo of Thomas Murphy and Daniel Burke.

The Cap Cities/ABC example certainly is not lost on Eisner, who agreed in late July to acquire that company for $19 billion. With the Cap Cities deal, Eisner had even greater reason to recruit a strong manager, and Ovitz--recovering from his aborted talks with MCA--had greater reason to accept.

Sid Bass, the key Disney shareholder whose Texas family owns nearly 19% of the Mouse, admits now that he and Eisner had been discussing candidates all year. "[Ovitz] is going to goad Michael in a constructive way," Bass told FORTUNE. Bass was first introduced to the CAA chairman in 1986, when the Ovitz and Eisner families were on an Aspen ski vacation. Again in Aspen, Eisner and Ovitz met with Bass on August 12 before proceeding to make their deal.

Why would Ovitz accept a No. 2 job? A shrewd Hollywood observer wagers that Ovitz was reluctant to take the MCA post because he would have been held publicly accountable for any failures in overhauling that company for its new 80% owner, Seagram Co. At Disney, Eisner has just finished recasting the major division chiefs. If, for example, a string of movies fails, it can hardly be Ovitz's fault.

Indeed, Ovitz insists that he does not want to be the day-to-day overseer. "Sandy [Litvack] has been doing that job," Eisner said. Litvack will continue as chief of corporate operations. He and chief financial officer Stephen F. Bollenbach--newly recruited from Host Marriott--still report directly to Eisner.

Ovitz and Eisner share any number of traits. Neither one gambles; neither has so much as purchased a lottery ticket. While Eisner quit smoking back in the 1960s, Ovitz never smoked at all. They share a deeply competitive streak ("Frankly, I dreaded the idea ellipse of competing if he went to MCA," Eisner said). But Ovitz has strengths that Eisner cannot claim: a longtime fascination with Asia, for example, and national politics. "I don't like traveling that much," Eisner admitted, clearly relishing the idea of dispatching Ovitz on some trips. Eisner said he won't buy another corporate jet for Ovitz--but one will be included in the Cap Cities/ABC deal anyway.

There remains the slight problem of where Ovitz will sit. On Eisner's floor in the Michael Graves-designed headquarters, all five executive offices are occupied, and Disney watchers wonder how Eisner will place Ovitz next to him, as he promises to do. Eisner waves off the problem, noting cheerily that the company has built 55 buildings since he arrived. After his tortuous year, finding space for Ovitz promises to be the best of problems.

- Kathryn Harris