Puerto Rican actor and director (1912–1992)
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors—or, indeed, actors of any ethnicity—during his lifetime and after, with a career spanning nearly 60 years between 1935 and 1992. He achieved prominence for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the play of the same name, which earned him the inaugural Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1947. He reprised the role in a 1950 film version and won an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him both the first Hispanic and the first Puerto Rican–born actor to win an Academy Award.
His other notable film roles include Charles VII in "Joan of Arc" (1948), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in "Moulin Rouge" (1952), defense attorney Barney Greenwald in "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), Alfred Dreyfus in "I Accuse!" (1958), which he also directed; the Turkish Bey in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), Siegfried Rieber in "Ship of Fools" (1965), and Emperor Shaddam IV in "Dune" (1984). Ferrer also maintained a prolific acting and directing career on Broadway, winning a second Best Actor Tony for "The Shrike", and Best Director for "The Shrike", "The Fourposter", and "Stalag 17", Additionally, Ferrer appeared numerous times in the works of Shakespeare, notably as Iago in Othello.
Ferrer was the father of actor Miguel Ferrer, the brother of Rafael Ferrer, the grandfather of actress Tessa Ferrer, and the uncle of actor George Clooney. His contributions to American theatre were recognized in 1981 when he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1985, he received the National Medal of Arts from President Reagan, becoming the first actor so honored.
Early life.
Ferrer was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Rafael Ferrer, a local attorney and writer, and María Providencia Cintrón, of Yabucoa. His parents were both of Spanish descent. He was the grandson of Gabriel Ferrer Hernández, a doctor and advocate of Puerto Rican independence from Spain. He had two younger sisters, Elvira and Leticia.
The family moved to New York in 1914, when Ferrer was two years old. He studied at the Swiss boarding school Institut Le Rosey. He was adept in several languages, including Spanish, English, French, and Italian.
In 1933, Ferrer completed his bachelor's degree in architecture at Princeton University, where he wrote his senior thesis on "French Naturalism and Pardo Bazán". Ferrer was also a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and played piano in a band, "José Ferrer and His Pied Pipers". Ferrer then studied Romance languages at Columbia University for 1934–35.
Career.
Theatre.
Ferrer's first professional appearance as an actor was at a "showboat" theater on Long Island in the summer of 1934.
In 1935, Ferrer was the stage manager at the Suffern Country Playhouse, operated by Joshua Logan, whom Ferrer had known at Princeton. Ruth Gordon and Helen Hayes recommended him to Jed Harris.
Ferrer made his Broadway debut in 1935 in "A Slight Case of Murder" which ran 69 performances.
He could also be seen in "Stick-in-the-Mud" (1935) and "Spring Dance" (1936). Ferrer's first big success was in "Brother Rat" (1936–38) which ran for 577 performances. "In Clover" only ran for three performances. "How to Get Tough About It" (1938) also had a short run, as did "Missouri Legend" (1938).
"Mamba's Daughters" (1939) ran for 163 performances. Ferrer followed it with "Key Largo" (1939–40) with Paul Muni and directed by Guthrie McClintic, which went for 105 shows and was later turned into a film.
Ferrer had a huge personal success in the title role of "Charley's Aunt" (1940–41), partly in drag, under the direction of Joshua Logan. It went for 233 performances.
Ferrer then replaced Danny Kaye in the musical "Let's Face It!" (1943).
Theatre director and Cyrano.
Ferrer made his debut on Broadway as director with "Vickie" (1942) in which he also starred. It only had a short run.
He played Iago in Margaret Webster's Broadway production of "Othello" (1943–44), which starred Paul Robeson in the title role, Webster as Emilia, and Ferrer's wife, Uta Hagen, as Desdemona. That production still holds the record for longest-running repeat performance of a Shakespearean play presented in the United States, going for 296 performances (it would be revived in 1945).
Ferrer produced and directed, but did not appear in, "Strange Fruit" (1945–46), starring Mel Ferrer (no relation).
Among other radio roles, Ferrer starred as detective Philo Vance in a 1945 series of the same name.
"Cyrano de Bergerac".
Ferrer may be best remembered for his performance in the title role of "Cyrano de Bergerac", which he first played on Broadway in 1946. Ferrer feared that the production would be a failure in rehearsals, due to the open dislike for the play by director Mel Ferrer (no relation), so he called in Joshua Logan (who had directed his star-making performance in "Charley's Aunt") to serve as "play doctor" for the production. Logan wrote that he simply had to eliminate pieces of business which director Ferrer had inserted in his staging; they presumably were intended to sabotage the more sentimental elements of the play that the director considered to be corny and in bad taste. The production became one of the hits of the 1946/47 Broadway season, winning Ferrer the first Best Actor Tony Award for his depiction of the long-nosed poet/swordsman.
On January 9, 1949, Ferrer made his television debut when he starred in "The Philco Television Playhouse"'s one-hour adaptation of the play.
Ferrer directed, but did not appear in, "As We Forgive Our Debtors" (1947), which ran 5 performances. There was another short run for "Volpone" (1947) which Ferrer adapted and played the title role.
Early films.
Ferrer made his film debut in the Technicolor epic "Joan of Arc" (1948) as the weak-willed Dauphin opposite Ingrid Bergman as Joan. Ferrer's performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
At the City Center, he acted in revivals of "Angel Street" (1948) and "The Alchemist" (1948) and directed "S. S. Glencairn" (1948) and "The Insect Comedy" (1948) (also appearing in the latter).
Ferrer had another Broadway hit with "The Silver Whistle" (1948–49) which ran for 219 performances. He performed two shows for "The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse" on TV in 1949: Cyrano, playing the title role, and an adaptation of "What Makes Sammy Run?", playing Sammy Glick (adapted by Paddy Chayefsky).
Ferrer returned to Hollywood to appear in Otto Preminger's "Whirlpool" (1950), supporting Gene Tierney, and Richard Brooks' "Crisis" (1950), opposite Cary Grant.
Film stardom.
Ferrer then played the title role in "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950), directed by Michael Gordon and produced by Stanley Kramer. Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar, becoming the first actor to win the Oscar for the same role which won him the Tony. The film was widely seen although it lost money. Ferrer donated the Oscar to the University of Puerto Rico, and it was subsequently stolen in 2000.
Ferrer returned to Broadway for a revival of "Twentieth Century" (1950–51) which he directed and starred in, opposite Gloria Swanson; it went for 233 performances. Immediately following, he produced and directed, but did not appear in, "Stalag 17" (1951–52), a big hit running for 472 performances. Even more popular was "The Fourposter" (1951–53) in which he directed Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy; it ran for 632 performances.
Ferrer returned to cinema screens in the comedy "Anything Can Happen" (1952), directed by George Seaton, where Ferrer played an immigrant.
More popular was "Moulin Rouge" (1952) in which Ferrer played the role of Toulouse-Lautrec under John Huston's direction. Ferrer received 40% of the profits as well as his third and final Oscar nomination.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer directed and starred in "The Shrike" (1952), which ran for 161 performances.
His next two shows were as director only: Horton Foote's "The Chase" (1952) only had a short run but "My Three Angels" (1953–54), went for 344 performances.
Ferrer had another cinema hit with "Miss Sadie Thompson" (1953) starring Rita Hayworth. Ferrer briefly revived some of his shows at the City Centre in 1953: Cyrano, "The Shrike", "Richard III", "Charley's Aunt".
He returned to films with "The Caine Mutiny" (1954) for Kramer, co-starring with Humphrey Bogart and Van Johnson, playing defense lawyer Barney Greenwald; the film was a huge hit. Greenwald's Jewish faith, so prominent in the novel that it informed his judgments of the U.S.S. "Caine's" officers, was downplayed in the film, as Ferrer, being Puerto Rican, was nominally Roman Catholic.
Also popular was "Deep in My Heart" (1955) where Ferrer played Sigmund Romberg, and which made a profit of over $1 million.
Film director.
Ferrer made his debut as film director at Universal with an adaptation of "The Shrike" (1955), in which he also starred opposite June Allyson.
Ferrer then performed Cyrano in an episode of "Producer's Showcase" on television, directed by Mel Ferrer and co-starring Claire Bloom.
He went to England to star in and direct a war film for Warwick Productions, "The Cockleshell Heroes" (1955), alongside Trevor Howard; it was a success at the British box office.
Ferrer co-wrote, directed and starred in the film "The Great Man" (1956), at Universal. He directed and starred in two films for MGM: "I Accuse!" (1958), where he played Captain Alfred Dreyfus, and "The High Cost of Loving" (1958) a comedy with Gena Rowlands. Both flopped at the box office.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer co-wrote and directed the stage musical "Oh, Captain!" (1958) with Tony Randall, which only had a short run. He directed and starred in "Edwin Booth" (1958), playing the title role; it was not a success.
In 1958, Ferrer narrated the children's album "Tubby the Tuba", which was nominated for the Best Recording For Children at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards.
Ferrer took over the direction of the troubled musical "Juno" (1959) from Vincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over from Tony Richardson. The show, which starred Shirley Booth, folded after 16 performances and mixed to extremely negative critical reaction.
However, he followed it directing the original stage production of Saul Levitt's "The Andersonville Trial" (1959–60), about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamous Civil War prison. It was a hit and featured George C. Scott, running for 179 performances.
Around this time, Ferrer also appeared in television in episodes of "General Electric Theater" and "The United States Steel Hour".
20th Century Fox.
Ferrer signed a contract with 20th Century Fox to direct films. He made "Return to Peyton Place" (1961) and "State Fair" (1962), both of which were commercial disappointments.
Ferrer had a key support role in the film "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) which was a huge success. Although Ferrer's performance was only small he said it was his best on screen.
At Fox, he played an investigating police officer in "Nine Hours to Rama" (1963). He also guest starred on "The Greatest Show on Earth".
Ferrer returned to Broadway to star in Noël Coward's musical "The Girl Who Came to Supper" (1963–64) which ran for 112 performances.
He narrated the first episode of the popular 1964 sitcom "Bewitched", in mock documentary style.
Ferrer went to Germany to make "Stop Train 349" (1963) with Sean Flynn. He appeared in the 1964 French film "Cyrano et d'Artagnan" directed by Abel Gance.
Back in Hollywood, Ferrer played Herod Antipas in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) and was in "Ship of Fools" (1965) for Stanley Kramer.
A notable performance of his later stage career was as Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in the hit musical "Man of La Mancha". Ferrer took over the role from Richard Kiley in 1966 and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show. Tony Martinez continued in the role of Sancho Panza under Ferrer, as he had with Kiley.
Ferrer starred in Carl Reiner's "Enter Laughing" (1967) and did a production of "Kismet" (1967) on TV. He went to Europe to do "Cervantes" (1967) and appeared in "A Case of Libel" (1968) for US TV. He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed in the 1968 Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special "The Little Drummer Boy". In 1968 the IRS sent him a tax bill of $122,000 going back to 1962.
1970s.
Ferrer appeared in the television films "The Aquarians" (1970), "Gideon" (1971) and "Crosscurrent" (1971) and guest-starred on "The Name of the Game" and "Banyon".
Ferrer directed "The Web and the Rock" (1972) on stage in New York and appeared in "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973), "Orson Welles Great