Adolph Green
Adolph Green | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | October 23, 2002 New York City, U.S. | (aged 87)
Occupation(s) | Playwright, songwriter |
Years active | 1944–2002 |
Spouses | Elizabeth Reitell
(m. 1941, divorced) |
Children | Adam Green Amanda Green |
Adolph Green (December 2, 1914 – October 23, 2002) was an American
They started their career alongside Leonard Bernstein on stage where they received the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best Musical for Wonderful Town (1953). On Broadway they wrote the music and lyrics to musicals such as On the Town (1944), Two on the Aisle (1951), Peter Pan (1954), Bells Are Ringing (1956), and Applause (1970). They won four Tony Awards as composter and lyricist for Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), On the Twentieth Century (1978), and The Will Rogers Follies (1991). As performers they starred in A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1958).
They gained notoriety in film collaborating with
Early life and education
Green was born in
Career
1938–1947
He met Comden through mutual friends in 1938 while she was studying drama at New York University. They formed a troupe called the Revuers, which performed at the Village Vanguard, a club in Greenwich Village. Among the members of the company was a young comedian named Judy Tuvim, who later changed her name to Judy Holliday, and Green's good friend, a young musician named Leonard Bernstein, whom he had met in 1937 at Camp Onota (a summer camp in Pittsfield MA where Bernstein was the music counselor), frequently accompanied them on the piano.
Together, Comden and Green's act earned success and a movie offer. The Revuers traveled west in hopes of finding fame in
1948–1969
They wrote the screenplay for
They followed this with another hit, and another musical
Comden and Green returned to films with Morton DaCosta's Auntie Mame (1958) starring Rosalind Russell and Minnelli's Bells Are Ringing (1961) starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. In 1958, they appeared on Broadway in A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green, a revue that included some of their early sketches. It was a critical and commercial success, and they brought an updated version back to Broadway in 1977. In 1964 they wrote the screenplay for the black comedy What a Way to Go! starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, and Dick Van Dyke. The film was a commercial success but received mixed reviews.
1970–2002
Among their other credits are the
In 1989 he appeared as Dr. Pangloss in Bernstein's
Personal life
Green was married to actress Allyn Ann McLerie[4] from 1945 to 1953.[5]
Green's third wife was actress Phyllis Newman, who had understudied Holliday in Bells Are Ringing. They married in 1960, and remained so until Green's death in 2002. The couple had two children, Adam and Amanda, both of whom are songwriters.[6]
His Broadway memorial, with Lauren Bacall, Kevin Kline, Joel Grey, Kristin Chenoweth, Arthur Laurents, Peter Stone, and Betty Comden in attendance was held at the Shubert Theater on December 4, 2002.[7]
Credits
Broadway
- On the Town (1944)
- Billion Dollar Baby (1945)
- Two on the Aisle (1951)
- Wonderful Town (1953)
- Peter Pan (1954)
- Bells Are Ringing (1956)
- Say, Darling (1958)
- A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1958)
- Do Re Mi (1960)
- Subways Are for Sleeping (1961)
- Fade Out – Fade In (1964)
- Hallelujah, Baby! (1967)
- Applause (1970)
- Lorelei (1974)
- On the Twentieth Century (1978)
- The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979)
- A Doll's Life (1982)
- Singin' in the Rain (1985)
- The Will Rogers Follies (1991)
Hollywood
- Good News (1947)
- The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
- On the Town (1949)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- The Band Wagon (1953)
- It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
- Auntie Mame (1958)
- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
- What a Way to Go! (1964)
- My Favorite Year (1982)
Acting credits
- Greenwich Village (1944) as Revuer (uncredited)
- Simon (1980) as Commune Leader
- My Favorite Year (1982) as Leo Silver
- Lily in Love (1984) as Jerry Silber
- Garbo Talks (1984) as himself
- I Want to Go Home (1989) as Joey Wellman
- Candide (1991, TV Movie) as Dr. Pangloss / Martin
- Frasier (1994, TV Series) as Walter (voice)
- The Substance of Fire (1996) as Mr. Musselblatt (final film role)
Awards and nominations
Notes
- ^ The New York Times, March 3, 1981 – 26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame
- ^ "Adolph Green at the Songwriters Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on May 15, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
- ^ The New York Times, March 3, 1981 – 26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame
- ISBN 978-0-7679-0421-6. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- ^ McPhee, Ryan. "Stage and Screen Star Allyn Ann McLerie Dies at 91" Playbill, June 3, 2018
- ^ "Adolph Green, Playwright and Lyricist Who Teamed With Comden, Dies at 87"The New York Times, October 25, 2002
- ^ "A Broadway Memorial? That's Entertainment"The New York Times, December 4, 2002
References
- Off Stage, a memoir by Betty Comden published in 1995
External links
- Adolph Green at the Internet Broadway Database
- Adolph Green at IMDb
- Adolph Green at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Adolph Green papers, 1944–2002, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Comden and Green papers, 1933–2003, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- New York Public Library Blog on Comden and Green's Unproduced Screenplay Wonderland