- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGeorge Francis Abbott
- Nickname
- Mr. Broadway
- Legendary Broadway writer/producer/director George Abbott was born in 1887 in Forestville, New York. His father was mayor of Salamanca, New York, for two terms. In 1898 his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Abbott attended Kearney Military Academy. The family returned to New York, where Abbott attended Hamburg High School, graduating in 1907, and the University of Rochester (BA degree in 1911). He wrote the play "Perfectly Harmless" for University Dramatic Club. He attended Harvard University from 1911-1912, studying play writing under George Pierce Baker, and wrote "The Head of the Family" for Harvard Dramatic Club. In 1912 he won $100 in a play contest sponsored by the Bijou Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, for "The Man in the Manhole", and worked at the Bijou for a year as assistant stage manager. He made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1913 in "The Misleading Lady" (as Babe Merrill, a drunken student), followed by "The Yeoman of the Guard" (1915), "The Queen's Enemies" (1916), "Daddies" (1918), "The Broken Wing" (1920), "Dulcy" (on tour) (1921), "Zander the Great" (1923), "White Desert" (1923), "Hell-Bent for Heaven" (1924), "Lazybones" (1924), "Processional" (1925) and "Cowboy Crazy" (1926). From that point he concentrated on writing and directing, with "The Fall Guy" (his Broadway's debut, 1925), "Three Men on a Horse" (1935), "Jumbo" (1935), "On Your Toes" (1936), "The Boys from Syracuse" (1938), "Too Many Girls" (1939), "Pal Joey" (1940), "Best Foot Forward" (1941), "On the Town" (1944), "High Buttom Shoes" (1947), "Where's Charley?" (1948), "Call Me Madam" (1950), "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1951), "Wonderful Town" (1953), "The Pajama Game" (1954), "Damn Yankees" (1955), "New Girl Town" (1957), "Fiorello!" (1959), "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum" (1962), "Flora, the Red Menace" (1965; Liza Minnelli's Broadway debut).
He won five Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize (for "Fiorello!"). He was nominated for an Oscar for writing All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). His daughter, Judith Abbott, is a stage actress/director and was married (1946-49) to Tom Ewell.- IMDb Mini Biography By: José Roca <joseroca@retemail.es> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpousesJoy Moana Valderrama(November 21, 1983 - January 31, 1995) (his death)Mary Sinclair(March 26, 1946 - August 17, 1951) (divorced)Ednah Kathryn Levis(July 9, 1914 - September 6, 1930) (her death, 1 child)
- His play "The Pajama Game" was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Outstanding Musical Production.
- He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for "Damn Yankees!" for Outstanding Musical Production of the 1997 season.
- Won 11 Tony Awards, second only to his protégé Harold Prince's unprecedented 21-win record. Abbott's wins: in 1955, with collaborator Richard Bissell, as Best Authors (Musical) and as co-author of the book of the Best Musical winner "The Pajama Game"; in 1956, with collaborator Douglass Wallop, as Best Authors (Musical) and as co-author of the book of the Best Musical winner "Damn Yankees!"; in 1960, as Best Director (Musical), and, with collaborator Jerome Weidman, as Best Authors (Musical) and as co-author of the book of the Best Musical winner "Fiorello!"; in 1963, as Best Director (Musical) for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"; in 1976, the Lawrence Langner Award; and, in 1987, a Special Tony Award "on the occasion of his 100th birthday". He was also nominated in 1958 as author of the book of Best Musical nominee "New Girl in Town" and, in 1963, as Best Director (Dramatic) for "Never Too Late".
- Won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, "Fiorello!", collaborating with Jerome Weidman Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick.
- Awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1990 by the National Endowment for the Arts.
- I must confess that one of my main defects as a director has always been an incurable impatience.
- Many great minds have made a botch of matters because their emotions fettered their thinking.
- Pace is a matter of taste. It means keeping the action alive. But that can be done with pauses as well as picking up cues. It means not having any deadwood.
- It's because I love the theater so much that I thought I'd stick around.
- I remember, I have a picture of them (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) sitting at a table for two, near a window, and I sent over word, "Go ahead, come join us now," and the word came back, never mind, they were already seated, they would stay there. And they stayed there for the rest of the run. It was really love at first sight.
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