George Abbott

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George Francis Abbott (born June 25, 1887 in Forestville , New York , † January 31, 1995 in Miami Beach , Florida ) was an American theater producer , film producer , director and screenwriter .

Life

George Abbott first studied journalism from 1907 at the University of Rochester , but already turned to drama there. In 1911 he began studying theater at Harvard University , where he took part in George Pierce Baker's drama course "47 Workshop".

Abbott made his Broadway debut in 1913 and remained there as an actor until the mid-1920s. In 1915 he also found a job with the theater producer John Golden as "assistant casting director" and "associate playwright". In 1923 he was voted one of the ten best actors for his role in the comedy Zander the Great . In 1924 he played a leading role in the Pulitzer Prize- winning play Hell-bent Fer Heaven by Hatcher Hughes.

Abbott had his first great success as a writer and director in 1926 with the acting Broadway , which he wrote with Philip Dunning. Mainly in the period between 1928 and 1932 he also worked as a director and screenwriter in Hollywood. Here he worked, among other things, on the script of the classic film In the West Nothing New (1930). His first successful self-produced play was the comedy Twentieth Century in 1932.

In his more than seventy-year Broadway career, George Abbott initially worked as an actor and later as an author (playwright), director and producer. In addition, he made a name for himself as a "show doctor", where he, as a co-director, producer or author, worked on the revision or redesign of shows that did not satisfy during the tryouts or previews .

Well-known theater directors such as Jerome Robbins , Bob Fosse and Harold Prince learned the craft of directing from Abbott.

Abbott was married three times, from the first marriage (1914) with Mrs. Ednah Levis daughter Judith was born, the actress became and in 1946 married the actor Tom Ewell. Ednah died in 1930 and Abbott married Mary Sinclair in 1946, whom he divorced in April 1951. On November 21, 1983, five months after his 96th birthday, he married Joy Valderrama.

Abbott died of a stroke in Miami Beach four months and 25 days before his 108th birthday.

Works

Broadway productions (selection)

  • 1927: Coquette
  • 1929: Broadway
  • 1935: Three Men on a Horse
  • 1935: Boy Meets Girl
  • 1936: Brother Council
  • 1937: Room Service
  • 1938: What a Life
  • 1943: Kiss and Tell
  • 1957: The Pajama Game
  • 1962: Never Too Late

Musical productions (selection)

Filmography (selection)

Screenwriter

  • 1926: Love 'Em and Leave' Em
  • 1927: Hills of Peril
  • 1928: Four Walls
  • 1929: The Saturday Night Kid
  • 1929: Why Bring That Up?
  • 1930: on the Western Front (All Quiet on the Western Front)
  • 1930: The Fall Guy
  • 1930: El Dios del mar
  • 1931: Stolen Heaven
  • 1931: Sombras del circo
  • 1931: Secrets of a Secretary
  • 1932: The leap into nowhere
  • 1933: Lilly Turner
  • 1934: Heat Lightning
  • 1934: Straight Is the Way
  • 1936: Three men on a horse
  • 1938: Broadway
  • 1940: Too Many Girls
  • 1941: Highway West
  • 1957: three men on one horse
  • 1958: Damn Yankees (also director)
  • 1978: Three men on one horse
  • 1986: The Boys from Syracuse

Awards

literature

  • Marilyn Berger: George Abbott, Broadway Giant With Hit After Hit, Dead at 107. In: The New York Times February 1, 1995.
  • Charles B. Axton, Otto Zehnder: Reclam's musical guide . Reclam, Ditzingen 2004, ISBN 3-15-010560-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vita George Francis Abbott on biography.com, accessed May 25, 2013.
  2. George Abbott biography on britannica.com, accessed May 25, 2013.
  3. George Abbott private ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on mkstage.com, accessed May 25, 2013.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mkstage.com