(FORTUNE Magazine) – Big shots rearranging the media landscape--Michael Eisner, Gerald Levin, John Malone, Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, and Ted Turner come to mind--make obeisance to few men. But when the self-effacing Gordon Crawford speaks, they snap to attention. For "Gordy," as he's known to intimates, is moneyman to the moguls. A vice president and stock picker with Los Angeles-based Capital Group ($250 billion in mutual and pension fund assets), Crawford has allocated billions to companies like Walt Disney, News Corp., Time Warner (owner of FORTUNE's parent), Tele-Communications Inc., Turner Broadcasting System, and Viacom. Observes Steven Rattner, Wall Street power broker with Lazard Freres: "Gordy speaks softly but carries a big wallet."

Crawford's wallet is a tad smaller these days--his stocks are getting chewed up by investors who, confused by competing technologies and stop-and-start regulatory efforts (not to mention an extremely volatile market), have been spitting out media stocks as if they'd just eaten bad clams. Standard & Poor's index of entertainment stocks dropped 11.5% in the 12 months ended July 31; cable TV was off 21%. Because Crawford's holdings are scattered across several funds managed by Capital Research & Management, it's tough to quantify how hard he's been hit. "This is a terrible time," he says in frustration. "all my stocks are down." Indeed, a couple of major holdings have seriously tanked. For example, the price of Time Warner shares--he owns 33 million--has plunged 21% to about $35 of late. Shares of TCI are also off 21%, selling at $15 recently, and not long ago Crawford bought more, raising his TCI stake to 38 million shares. These two holdings alone, worth $1.7 billion today, would have been worth $2.2 billion a year earlier.

His submerged portfolio notwithstanding, Crawford's reputation is firmly intact. He's known as a value investor who ignores such short-term fluctuations. He's also known as courtly and extremely intelligent. Shrewd bets on early winners first got his name on people's lips: Crawford poured money into cellular in the 1980s when few understood its potential; in 1987 he bought Turner Broadcasting stock when it was in a free fall, only to reap wondrous rewards as it recovered. Last year he earned $250 million in two days when Cap Cities/ABC merged with Disney, and Westinghouse acquired CBS.

His thorough understanding of the media business has helped transmogrify Crawford's role from mere investor to trusted adviser. Says Ken Goldman, president of EnterMedia Growth Partners in Denver: "Gordy is a confidante to managers." For example, Crawford and his wife just happened to be fly-fishing at Ted Turner's Montana ranch when Gerald Levin, chairman of Time Warner, dropped by with a proposal to buy Turner's company.

Despite (or perhaps due to) the size and significance of his holdings, Crawford hates publicity and would never disclose his or his clients' earnings. But his privacy may become harder to maintain if the Time Warner/Turner deal is consummated. Together, TCI, Turner Broadcasting, Seagram, and Capital Research would own about 35% of the new company's stock, strengthening Crawford's already formidable position. Perhaps the prospect of incipient mogulhood jangles his nerves. When FORTUNE first called to request an interview, the ever so polite fixture of Hollywood's inner circle snapped, "Don't you want to wait until the stocks go up?"

--Linda Grant