Lost Tony winners

[newintown]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 9:11am

Watching the Tony Awards, and pondering on the self-congratulatory tone of any awards ceremony, I wondered about the impact of winning one, and looked back through the records to find winners who seem to be more or less forgotten or vanished now.

Culling was difficult - many names that I think are famous I found, when questioning some younger or less-theatrically oriented people, to be not so.

Some of the more recent names may have gone into television, a form with which I'm less familiar.

But what happened to these people?

Paul Hartman (Actor-musical, Angel in the Wings, 194
Paul Kelly (Actor-dramatic, Command Decision, 194
Grace Hartman (Actress-musical, Angel in the Wings, 194
Martita Hunt (Actress-dramatic, The Madwoman of Chaillot, 1949)
(I thought Martita was famous, but no one I spoke to had heard of her)
Sidney Blackmer (Actor-dramatic, Come Back, Little Sheba, 1950)
(Ditto Martita)
Myron McCormick (Actor Supporting-Musical, South Pacific, 1950)
(We all know the role, but no one remembered this name)
John Cromwell (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Point of No Return, 1952)
Marian Winters (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, I Am a Camera, 1052)
John Williams (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Dial M for Murder, 1953)
Sheila Bond (Actress Supporting-Musical, Wish You Were Here, 1953)
Francis L. Sullivan (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Witness for the Prosecution, 1955)
Patricia Jessel (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, Witness for the Prosecution, 1955)
Russ Brown (Actor Supporting-Musical, Damn Yankees, 1956)
Henry Jones (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Sunrise At Campobello, 195
Martin Gable (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Big Fish, Little Fish, 1961)
(Ditto Martita and Blackmer)
Elizabeth Seal (Actress-Musical, Irma La Douce, 1961)
Anna Quayle (Actress Supporting-Musical, Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, 1962)
Barbara Loden (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, After the Fall, 1963)
Tessie O'Shea (Actress Supporting-Musical, The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1962)
Victor Spinetti (Actor Supporting-Musical, Oh, What a Lovely War, 1963)
Frankie Michaels (Actor Supporting-Musical, Mame, 1966)
(I know, just a kid)
Paul Rogers (Actor-dramatic, The Homecoming, 1967)
Peg Murray (Actress Supporting-Musical, Cabaret, 1967)
James Patterson (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, The Birthday Party, 196
Zena Walker (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, Joe Egg, 196
Lillian Hayman (Actress Supporting-Musical, Hallelujah, Baby!, 196
Paul Sand (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, Story Theatre, 1971)
(He was famous, right? But where now?)
Rae Allen (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, 1971)
Linda Hopkins (Actress Supporting-Musical, Inner City, 1972)
Leora Dana (Actress Supporting-Dramatic, The Last of Mrs. Lincoln, 1973)
Ed Flanders (Actor Supporting-Dramatic, A Moon for the Misbegotten, 1974)
Virginia Capers (Actress-Musical, Raisin, 1974)
Janie Sell (Actress Supporting-Musical, Over Here!, 1974)
John Kani and Winston Ntshona (Actor-dramatic, Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, 1975)
Sammy Williams (Actor Supporting-Musical, A Chorus Line, 1976)
Lenny Baker (Actor-Musical, I Love My Wife, 1977)
Delores Hall (Actress Supporting-Musical, Your Arm's Too Short to Box With God, 1977)
Trazana Beverley (Actress-Dramatic, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, 1977)
Lester Rawlins (Actor Featured-Play, Da, 197
Ann Wedgeworth (Actress Featured-Play, Chapter Two, 197
Michael Gough (Actor Featured-Play, Bedroom Farce, 1979)
Joan Hickson (Actress Featured-Play, Bedroom Farce, 1979)
David Rounds (Actor Featured-Play, Morning's at Seven, 1980)
Brian Backer (Actor Featured-Play, The Floating Light Bulb, 1981)
Jane Lapotaire (Actress-Play, Piaf, 1981)
Ben Harney (Actor-Musical, Dreamgirls, 1982)
Lila Kedrova (Actor Featured-Musical, Zorba, 1984)
Ron Richardson (Actor Featured-Musical, Big River, 1985)
Barry Miller (Actor Featured-Play, Biloxi Blues, 1985)
Leilani Jones (Actress Featured-Musical, Grind, 1985)
Michael Maguire (Actor Featured-Musical, Les Miserables, 1987)
John Randolph (Actor Featured-Play, Broadway Bound, 1987)
Frances Ruffelle (Actress Featured-Musical, Les Miserables, 1987)
Maryann Plunkett (Actress-Musical, Me and My Girl, 1987)
Bill McCutcheon (Actor Featured-Musical, Anything Goes, 198
L. Scott Caldwell (Actress Featured-Play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, 198
Pauline Collins (Actress-Play, Shirley Valentine, 1989)
Daisy Eagan (Actress Featured-Musical, The Secret Garden, 1991)
Scott Waara (Actor Featured-Musical, The Most Happy Fella, 1992)
Brid Brennan (Actress Featured-Play, Dancing at Lughnasa, 1992)
Gretha Boston (Actress Featured-Musical, Show Boat, 1995)
Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Actor Featured-Musical, Rent, 1996)
Owen Teale (Actor Featured-Play, A Doll's House, 1997)
Tom Murphy (Actor Featured-Play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 199
Anna Manahan (Actress Featured-Play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 199
Marie Mullen (Actress-Play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 199

[MissAnneThrop]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 9:18am

i know some have passed away.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 9:21am

Apologies for the ridiculous emoticons. Now I know that a zero followed by a closed parenthesis makes that dumb thing...

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 9:23am

Tom Murphy and Anna Manahan (BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE) both passed away recently. Manahan appeared Off-Broadway in SISTERS in 2006. Murphy died of cancer in 2007 at 39.

Gretha Boston was nominated for a second Tony in 1999 for IT AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT THE BLUES. I believe she suffered a stroke several years ago.

Owen Teale was just in CREDITORS at Brooklyn Academy of Music and has a very active stage/film career in the UK.

Daisy Eagan appeared in JAMES JOYCE'S THE DEAD on Broadway and lives in LA, where she mostly concentrates on a TV career.

Maryann Plunkett took time off to be a mother but was on Broadway in 2008 in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. She's married to Jay O Sanders.

L Scott Caldwell has an active career in TV and film and still performs regularly in theatre.

Michael Maguire retired from acting, went to law school, and is currently a practicing lawyer.

Lila Kedrova died in 2000. Don't forget that she was also an Oscar winner for the same role for which she won the Tony.

Barbara Loden died in 1981. She was married to Elia Kazan until the time of her death.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 9:33am

Yes L Scott Caldwell is most recently known for her wonderful heartfelt role as Rose on LOST

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 10:21am

Several of them went on to have (or continued) well-respected careers in film and TV: Martita Hunt ("Anastasia," "Great Expectations"), Joan Hickson ("Miss Marple"), Sidney Blackmer ("Rosemary's Baby") . . .

Not household names, perhaps, but all gave immortal performances.

It is an interesting list, though.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 10:24am

Marie Mullen lives in Ireland but was here last year in The Irish Rep's THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 10:26am

In her native ireland, Anna Manahan was as huge as Judi Dench or Marian Seldes- she was a legendary actress, lovely and a little scary.

[Spotlight61]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 10:27am

Jane Lapotaire suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2000. She was due to make a stage comeback in 2009 but withdrew from the play due to artistic differences. She has, since her recovery, made TV appearances and wrote a book about her experiences.

Joan Hickson is a TV legend having portrayed Miss Marple in the BBC adaptaions for many years. She was awarded an OBE for services to drama and died in 1998.

Michael Gough is a brilliant British character actor whom in the 80's and 90's appeared as Alfred the butler in the Batman films. He is still alive and is in his early 90's.

Frances Ruffelle altered her career path and has made several attempts at a pop career. To no great success though!

Pauline Collins OBE still continues to work but mainly in TV.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 11:44am

David Rounds had his role of the agent cut out of town in Chicago back in 1975. He won his Tony in 1980, and then I believe died of cancer or AIDS in the 1980s. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, which I might be.

Sammy Williams of Chorus Line fame is very much alive and living in California, at least, that's what I read in one of those Chorus Line books.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 11:45am

Michael Maguire retired from acting, went to law school, and is currently a practicing lawyer.

He's still performing on cruise ships, though.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 11:49am

And didn't someone say, on the earlier Theatre World Award thread, that Maguire was... mean to his one-time wife, Susan Stroman?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 12:06pm

Yes. And not wife -- girlfriend.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 12:26pm

Yeah, it was no secret that he beat her up...pretty badly on several occasions.

[fanof many]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 12:40pm

I too am trying to locate some Tony winners of the past-
Lee Allen for one- I posted here regarding his whereabouts and have had no luck- so little info on google- but if someone should know how to contact him, I'll be greatly appreciative.

From your list, these performers are deceased:
Paul Hartman
Paul Kelly
Grace Hartman
Martita Hunt
Sidney Blackmer
Myron McCormick
John Cromwell
Marian Winters
John Williams
Francis L. Sullivan
Patricia Jessel
Henry Jones
Martin Gable
Barbara Loden
Tessie O'Shea
Victor Spinetti
Paul Rogers
James Patterson
Zena Walker
Lillian Hayman
Leora Dana
Ed Flanders
Virginia Capers
Lenny Baker
Lester Rawlins
Joan Hickson
Lila Kedrova
John Randolph
Bill McCutcheon
Anna Manahan

I'd love to know where Shelia Bond is today. She is probably in her 80's. Elizabeth Seal and Anna Quayle both reside in Great Britain. David Rounds died a few years after winning his Tony. Lenny Baker is deceased. Marian Winters died while a member of the cast of "Deathtrap" in the '80's. I had traveled to NYC and after seeing a performance, I asked Marian Seldes about her and Marian told me that she had just recently passed away. I had missed it in the press.

[Spotlight61]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 12:45pm

Dear fanof many,

Victor Spinetti is still very much alive and his wonderful and illuminating life can be found here;

http://www.victorspinetti.co.uk/
Updated On: 6/16/10 at 12:45 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 12:49pm

A few sources claim that David Rounds' obituary was the first in the NY Times to list a same sex partner as a survivor...

[fanof many]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 1:11pm

OOPPSS
Thanks for setting me straight-
I am so sorry to include Mr Spinetti with those who are deceased.

[fanof many]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 1:15pm

I found this on google regarding David Rounds obit:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aOUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=david+rounds+died&source=bl&ots=JedjI56BMo&sig=yuvcaPx7jKPvE2XBLBJcGvY3ez4&hl=en&ei=GAYZTIbrJMSAlAfuy-yuCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBjge#v=onepage&q=david%20rounds%20died&f=false

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 1:18pm

"Ann Wedgeworth"

Played Lana on "Three's Company" and still shows up in movies and tv (Sweet Dreams, Steel Magnolias).

"Pauline Collins"

A British star and still does a lot of tv work. Has a huge body of work including movies and tv shows. Needs to come back to Broadway as quickly as possible.

[philly03]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 1:26pm

"Frances Ruffelle altered her career path and has made several attempts at a pop career. To no great success though! "

Frances Ruffelle married Co-Director John Caird after her Broadway run, and continued mild success in "Children of Eden" and a few other little shows. She did the Eurovision concert representing Britain as well in the '90s!

Her and Caird rumoredly had a very ugly split, and that basically ruined her theatrical career. Not to mention she was hoping to cross over to the pop world as well, but when that failed she kind of just laid low. That's also the supposed reason why Ruffelle was absent from the 1995 Dream Cast 10th Anniversary Concert, because Caird wouldn't allow it.

She's also done the role of Eponine twice since originating it on Broadway in the West End. She's also done Chicago in the West End!

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 1:52pm

Henry Jones, who died in 1999, did one more Broadway role after winning the Tony for Sunrise at Campobello and then spent the remainder of his life building up an extensive resume in TV and film. Usually in supporting or minor roles, he amassed over 150 TV credits, and appeared in such movies as 3:10 to Yuma, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Grifters, Dick Tracy, and as the coroner in Vertigo. He also reprised his stage performance of Leroy in The Bad Seed in the film version.

From my teenage days in the early '90s, I remember him as the small town doctor forced into retirement (and subsequently killed by a spider) in Arachnophobia.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 2:09pm

That's also the supposed reason why Ruffelle was absent from the 1995 Dream Cast 10th Anniversary Concert, because Caird wouldn't allow it.

I thought it was because she had just had a baby, but maybe not. (She did end up doing Les Miz in Concert at Chelmsford about a year later, though.)

Caird and Ruffelle's daughter, Eliza, now goes by Eliza Doolittle...

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 2:33pm

Wilson Jermaine Heredia is doing fine, hes appeared in Without a Trace, Medium, the film Descent, the movie version of Rent, Law and Order Etc

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/16/10 at 2:38pm

Martin Gabel was a well-respected actor, director, producer and was often a guest panelist on the original "What's My Line?" where his wife, the under-rated Arlene Francis, was a permanent panelist.

Lenny Baker, Barbara Loden and James Patterson all died way too young and all of cancer I believe.

Marian Winters was a lovely lady. I was working backstage when she had to leave Deathtrap and actually helped her load her personal stuff out one afternoon so she wouldn't run into anyone in the company. She had been in cancer treatment and had just been told that her condition was terminal although she didn't tell me that. She was a very private person.

Now all the principals are dead so I can tell this. Leora Dana had been married to Kurt Kasznar (Sound of Music, Barefoot in the Park) and both came out after their divorce. However Leora Dana's "great love of her life" was Tyrone Power (another gay man), and when she was drunk which was often toward the end of her life, she would talk on and on about Ty.

John Randolph was a career man who worked with the Lunts in the 50s. He died tragically and memorably. He and his wife were on their way into the Oscars or Emmys and he had a heart attack and died there.

It is true - David Rounds' obit in the Times was the first to list "his companion" as a survivor. He had a country place upstate near a Times editor and knew he was dying and mentioned to this editor that it would mean a lot to him and his other half if he were listed. They devised the term 'companion' and the editor was good for his word.

I would love to hear where Frankie Michaels has spent the preceeding 44 years. I seriously doubt his name was "Frankie Michels". It was probably given to him by his agent or manager.