David Brooks (actor)

David Brooks
Born	October 24, 1917(1917-10-24) Portland, Oregon
Died	March 31, 1999(1999-03-31) (aged 81)

David Brooks (24 October 1917 - 31 March 1999) was an American actor, singer, director, and producer. He first drew critical acclaimation for starring in several Broadway musicals during the 1940s, including portraying Tommy Albright in the original production of Brigadoon. In the early 1950s he was an important stage director in the avant-garde theatre scene of Milan, Italy. He returned to the United States during the mid 1950s and began working principally as a stage director and producer for over a decade. He was notably instrumental in producing the United States premieres of a number of works by Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett. He remained active as an actor up through the 1980s.

Biography

Born in Portland, Oregon to Jewish parents, Brooks earned a bachelors degree in music from the University of Washington where he was trained as a classical baritone. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he pursued graduate studies in opera. While a student at Curtis he began appearing in plays and musicals in Philadelphia which ultimately led to his being signed with a talent agent. Me made his Broadway theatre debut in 1942 as Jeff Calhoun opposite Celeste Holm as Evalina in the original production of Harold Arlen's Bloomer Girl. The show was a big hit and effectively launched a major career for Brooks as a stage actor and later stage director and producer.^[1] In 1944 he made his only film appearance as Angus MacNab in Bonnie Lassie.

Brooks entered musical theater history on March 13, 1947 when he originated the role of Tommy Albright in the original Broadway production of Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon at the Ziegfeld Theater. He performed the role 581 times before the production closed on July 31, 1948. After the production ended, Brooks moved to Milan, Italy where he worked as a director and producer of plays during the early 1950s. While there he became involved with the avant-garde theater scene, notably staging works by Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett.^[1]

In 1954 Brooks returned to the United States to portray Tim Cavanaugh in Earl Robinson and Waldo Salt's original musical Sandhog. After the show closed in January 1955, Brooks helped found the theater production company Rooftop Productions. With the company he helped produce the American premieres of Beckett's Endgame, Ionesco's The Bald Soprano and James Joyce's Ulysses in Nighttown, all of them Off-Broadway. He was also active as a director for Off-Broadway productions, and worked with Leonard Bernstein on his 1955 opera Trouble in Tahiti.^[1]

In 1963 Brooks returned to Broadway after an eight year absence to portray Governor Harmon Bardahl in Irving Berlin's Mr. President. He was also the standby performer for President Stephen Decatur Henderson. He returned to Broadway a few more times during his career, portraying Grand Duke Charles in The Girl Who Came to Supper (standby, 1964), Jim in The Sunday Man (1964), the Man in Park (1970), and Judge Paul Barriere in the 1981 revival of Can-Can. He also made a handful of television appearances.^[1]

He died at the age of 83 at the Jewish Home and Hospital in Manhattan. He was survived by his long time life partner Frances Kessler.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Jesse McKinley (April 4, 1999). "David Brooks, 83, Lead Actor in 'Brigadoon' on Broadway". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/04/nyregion/david-brooks-83-lead-actor-in-brigadoon-on-broadway.html. 

External links

• David Brooks at the Internet Broadway Database
• David Brooks at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Brooks, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1917-10-24
Place of birth	Portland, Oregon
Date of death	1999-03-31
Place of death