Grey Gardens Choose To Be Happy - Music

John McMartin August 21 1929 – July 6 2016 Was An American Actor Of Stage Musical Theatre Film And Television. McMartin Was Born In Warsaw Indiana In 1929 And Raised In Minnesota. He Attended College In Illinois And New York. He Made His Off-Broadway Debut In Little Mary Sunshine In 1959 Opposite Eileen Brennan And Elmarie Wendel. He Won A Theatre World Award For His Role As Corporal Billy Jester And Married One Of The Show's Producers Cynthia Baer In 1960 They Divorced In 1971. His First Broadway Appearance Was As Forrest Noble In The Conquering Hero In 1961 Which Was Followed By Blood Sweat And Stanley Poole. He Created The Role Of Oscar In Sweet Charity In 1966 Opposite Gwen Verdon Garnering A Tony Nomination And Played The Role Again In The 1969 Film Opposite Shirley MacLaine. He Was Reportedly Cast In Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum In 1962 But His Role Was Cut Before The Show Opened. He Later Starred In The Original Broadway Production Of Sondheim's Follies Opposite Alexis Smith In 1971 As Benjamin Stone Introducing The Ballad "The Road You Didn't Take". His Association With Sondheim Has Continued Appearing In A Little Night Music As Frederick At The Ahmanson Theatre Los Angeles In 1991. The Reviewer For The Orange County Register California Wrote That The Actor Was "aggressively Deadpan As Her Rediscovered Old Flame ..." He Appeared In The Broadway Revival Of Into The Woods In 2002 In The Dual Role Of The Narrator/Mysterious Man. Other Broadway Roles Include The Narrator In Happy New Year Ben In A Little Family Business Adapted By Jay Presson Allen 1982 Donner In Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending A Staircase Cap'n Andy In Kern And Hammerstein's Show Boat 1994 And Uncle Willie In Cole Porter's High Society 1998 . He Also Had A Role As The American Revolutionary Naval Hero John Paul Jones In The Unsuccessful Loesser/Spewack Musical Pleasures And Palaces Which Closed In Detroit. McMartin Was A Leading Member Of The New Phoenix Repertory Company During Their Three Broadway Seasons In The Early 1970s Appearing Onstage In Among Other Productions Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown Opposite Katherine Helmond Molière's Dom Juan And Luigi Pirandello's The Rules Of The Game. He Played "Anton Schell" Opposite Chita Rivera In Kander And Ebb's Musical The Visit Based On The Play By Friedrich Dürrenmatt At The Goodman Theatre. He Created The Roles Of "J.V. 'Major' Bouvier" And Norman Vincent Peale In Grey Gardens Opposite Mary Louise Wilson And Christine Ebersole. He Played Thomas Jefferson In The Original Cast Of John Guare's A Free Man Of Color At Lincoln Center 2010–2011 And Next Played "Elisha Whitney" In The 2011 Broadway Revival Of Anything Goes Opposite Jessica Walter. On Television He Appeared In The First Two Seasons Of Beauty And The Beast 1987 As Charles Chandler Father Of Catherine Linda Hamilton . He Also Appeared In The Golden Girls Season 2 As Frank Leahy Who Unbeknownst To Dorothy Bea Arthur Who Is Romantically Attracted To Him Is A Priest. He Appeared On Cheers Season 7 In "The Visiting Lecher". He Appeared As Radio Personality Fletcher Grey On Frasier Season 1 . He Also Appeared In Four Episodes Of Murder She Wrote. He Also Appeared As Shirley Jones' Love Interest In The Partridge Family Episode Titled "When Mother Gets Married". He Died Of Cancer In Manhattan On July 6 2016 At The Age Of 86. He Is Survived By His Two Daughters From His Marriage And His Long-Time Partner Actress Charlotte Moore The Artistic Director Of The Irish Repertory Theatre. Broadway Credits
The Conquering Hero — Forrest Noble — 1961
Blood Sweat And Stanley Poole — 1961
Children From Their Games — Sidney Balzer — 1963
A Rainy Day In Newark — Edward L. Voorhees — 1963
Sweet Charity — Oscar — 1966
Follies — Benjamin Stone — 1971/72
The Great God Brown — Dion Anthony — 1972/73
Don Juan — Sganarelle — 1972/73
Sondheim A Musical Tribute Special Benefit Concert — 1973
The Visit — Anton Schill — 1973/74
Chemin De Fer — Fedot — 1973/74
Love For Love — Foresight — 1974
The Rules Of The Game — Leone Gala — 1974
Happy New Year — Narrator — 1980
Solomon's Child — Allan — 1982
A Little Family Business — Ben — 1982
Artist Descending A Staircase — Donner — 1989
Show Boat — Cap'n Andy — 1994/97
High Society — Uncle Willie — 1998
Into The Woods — Mysterious Man/Narrator — 2002
Passion — Special Benefit Concert — Doctor Tambourri — 2004
Grey Gardens — J.V. "Major" Bouvier/Norman Vincent Peale -2006
Is He Dead? 2007 Sondheim The Birthday Concert — "The Road You Didn't Take" — 2010
A Free Man Of Color — Thomas Jefferson — 2010
Anything Goes — Elisha Whitney — 2011
All The Way — Richard Russell Jr. — 2013 Off-Broadway Credits
Little Mary Sunshine — Cpl."Billy" Jester — 1959
Too Much Johnson — Mr. Billings — 1964
The Misanthrope — Alceste — 1977
Julius Caesar — Julius Caesar — 1988
Thrill Me The Leopold & Loeb Story — Parole Board Voiceover — 2005
Grey Gardens — Major Bouvier/Norman Vincent Peale — 2006
Indian Blood — 2006 Regional Theatre Credits
A Little Night Music — Frederick Egerman — Berkshire Theatre Festival Ahmanson Theatre Los Angeles
The Visit — Goodman Theatre Chicago 2002 Selected Filmography
A Thousand Clowns — 1965
What's So Bad About Feeling Good? — 1968
Sweet Charity — 1969
Ritual Of Evil — 1970
All The President's Men — 1976
Thieves — 1977
Brubaker — 1980
Blow Out — 1981
Pennies From Heaven — 1981
Dream Lover — 1986
Legal Eagles — 1986
Native Son — 1986
Who's That Girl — 1987
A Shock To The System — 1990
Separate But Equal — 1991
Citizen Cohn — 1992
Frasier — 1994
Three Businessmen — 1998
The Dish — 2000
Kinsey — 2004
No Reservations — 2007
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — 2014 Awards And Nominations
1960 Theatre World Award For Little Mary Sunshine
1966 Tony Award Best Featured Actor In A Musical Sweet Charity Nominee 1973 Tony Award Best Featured Actor In A Play Don Juan Nominee 1973 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance The Great God Brown Winner 1973 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance Don Juan Winner 1995 Tony Award Best Actor In A Musical Show Boat Nominee 1998 Tony Award Best Featured Actor In A Musical High Society Nominee 1998 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor In A Musical High Society Nominee 2002 Tony Award Best Actor In A Musical Into The Woods Nominee 2006 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor In A Musical Grey Gardens Nominee 2009 Inducted Into The American Theater Hall Of Fame. read less