Joseph Anthony

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Joseph Anthony (born May 24, 1912 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin as Joseph Deuster , † January 20, 1993 in Hyannis , Massachusetts ) was an American actor , director and dancer . He was particularly connected to the theater , but has also participated in a number of films , including his directorial work Der Regenmacher (1956).

Life

Anthony studied at the University of Wisconsin in his hometown of Milwaukee before he was trained from 1931 at the Playhouse in Pasadena, California and at the acting school of Tamara Daykarhanova in New York . During this time he wrote a play called A Ship Comes In , which premiered at New York's Morosco Theater in 1934 and saw 38 performances. He made his debut as an actor in 1935 in a production of the play Mary of Scotland by Maxwell Anderson in Los Angeles . In addition to an extra role in a 1934 feature film, he also worked on a number of screenplays, including for Josef von Sternberg 's Dostoevsky film adaptation Crime and Punishment (1935).

In 1937 he played for the first time in New York in a production of the Federal Theater Project Company , which was funded by the New Deal artist programs. In the same year he co-founded the theater group American Actors Company, for which he directed several plays. In the following years he also appeared on stage repeatedly as a dancer, including a long time with Agnes de Mille as a partner. In the early 1940s he worked briefly for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio , where he had speaking roles in The Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) and Joe Smith, American (1942). He also worked as a set designer for MGM.

It took until the 1950s for him to really gain a foothold on Broadway , initially as an actor in a production by Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1951). However, his greatest success up to that point was in 1954 as a director at the premiere of the play The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash , which he also directed two years later with Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn . Between 1956 and 1964 he was nominated for the Tony for best director six times , but never received the award. His most successful theater works during this period include the American premieres of Jean Anouilh's Jeanne or Die Lerche (1955) and Eugène Ionesco's The Rhinos (1961), the drama A Clearing in the Woods by Arthur Laurents and the musicals The Most Happy Fella (1956) by Frank Loesser and 110 in the Shade (1963), based on The Rainmaker . His production of Gore Vidal's political drama The Best Man (1960) with Melvyn Douglas in the lead role brought it to 520 performances.

In addition, Anthony has often appeared as an actor on television since 1951, on the one hand in crime series such as Danger , The Web , Suspense , The Untouchables and The Defenders , on the other hand in the TV version of successful theater plays. After The Rainmaker , he directed five other films, mostly theater-based, including Many Are Called and All In One Night (1961), both starring Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine . He was also the director of various episodes of the crime series Brenner (1959–1964). He celebrated his last success as a director on Broadway in 1973 with a production of the Jean Kerr play Finishing Touches .

With his wife Perry Wilson, Anthony had a son and a daughter. He died in January 1993 at the age of 80.

Directorial work

theatre

  • The Rainmaker. Premiere: October 28, 1954, Cort Theater, New York. Author: N. Richard Nash . Actors: Geraldine Page , Richard Coogan.
  • The Lark. ( Jeanne or The Lark . ) Premiere: November 17, 1955, Longarcre Theater, New York. Author: Jean Anouilh . Actors: Julie Harris , Theodore Bikel , Boris Karloff .
  • The Most Happy Fella. Premiere: May 3, 1956, Imperial Theater, New York. Author and music: Frank Loesser . Actors: Jo Sullivan, Richard Torigi.
  • A Clearing in the Woods. Premiere: January 10, 1957, Belasco Theater, New York. Author: Arthur Laurents . Actors: Robert Culp , Tom Hatcher.
  • The Marriage-Go-Round. Premiere: October 29, 1958, Plymouth Theater, New York. Author: Leslie Stevens. Actors: Charles Boyer , Claudette Colbert .
  • The best man. Premiere: March 31, 1960, Morosco Theater, New York. Author: Gore Vidal . Actors: Melvyn Douglas , Frank Lovejoy.
  • Under the Yum-Yum Tree. Premiere: November 14, 1960, Henry Miller's Theater, New York. Actors: Sandra Church, Dean Jones .
  • Rhinoceros . ( The rhinos . ) Premiere: January 9, 1961, Longacre Theater, New York. Author: Eugène Ionesco . Actors: Zero Mostel , Eli Wallach .
  • Mary, Mary. Premiere: March 8, 1961, Helen Hyes Theater, New York. Author: Jean Kerr. Actors: Barbara Bel Geddes , Barry Nelson .
  • 110 in the shade. Premiere: October 24, 1963, Broadhurst Theater, New York. Author: N. Richard Nash. Actors: Robert Horton, Inga Swenson .
  • The Chinese Prime Minister. Premiere: January 2nd, 1964, Royale Theater, New York. Author: Enid Bagnold . Actors: Margaret Leighton , Alan Webb.
  • Jimmy. Premiere: October 23, 1969, Winter Garden Theater, New York.
  • Finishing touches. Premiere: February 8, 1973. Author: Jean Kerr. Actors: Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Lansing .

Movie

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Anthony, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deuster, Joseph (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, director and dancer
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1993
Place of death Hyannis , Massachusetts