Tony Award

Award-Winning Composer 

b. July 10, 1931
d. December 26, 2019

“Writing for me is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.”

Gerald “Jerry” Herman was an openly gay Broadway composer and lyricist best known for the smash musicals “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles.”

Herman was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. His family made frequent trips to the New York theater, which ignited his passion for Broadway musicals.

Herman spent his childhood learning the piano and writing songs. Every year he attended a summer camp owned by his parents. Before long, he was directing the camp’s theater shows.

Herman attended Parsons School of Design in New York. A talented interior designer, he renovated more than 30 homes. After a year at Parsons, Herman left to pursue theater at the University of Miami. At the time, the college offered one of the most innovative theater programs in America.

In Miami, Herman wrote, produced and directed his first musical, “Sketchbook.” The successful show ran for 17 additional performances beyond its original schedule.

Herman received his bachelor’s degree in drama in 1953 and relocated to New York, where he worked with an Off Broadway revue. In 1961 the theater producer Gerard Oestreicher asked Herman to write the music and lyrics for “Milk and Honey.” It was Herman’s first full Broadway score.

In 1964, with David Merrick and Michael Stewart, Herman produced “Hello, Dolly!” The longest-running musical of its time, “Hello, Dolly!” won 10 Tony Awards, and the show’s original cast recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Multiple Broadway revivals have been produced since.

In 1966 Herman wrote the score for the hit musical “Mame.” The play earned eight Tony Award nominations, including best composer and lyricist, and won three.

After several of his subsequent shows received negative reviews, Herman took a break. His inspiration returned after watching the novel-based French movie, “La Cage aux Folles.” Herman contacted the book’s author, Harvey Fierstein, and the two collaborated on a Broadway version of “La Cage” in 1983.

The winner of six Tony Awards, “La Cage aux Folles” presented the funny and touching story of a gay couple and their straight, soon-to-be married son. It provided a watershed portrayal of gay relationships and same-sex parenthood at a time when the AIDS epidemic raged and homophobia was rampant. Herman himself contracted HIV in 1985 and began a series of experimental drug therapies that saved his life.

Herman received numerous awards and nominations. The University of Miami named a theater after him, and the Kennedy Center honored him in 2010.

In 2019 Herman died of pulmonary complications. The New York Times published his obituary.

Playwright

b. August 21, 1935
d. March 7, 2020

“I had no agenda in writing this play except expressing myself.”

Mart Crowley was a gay American playwright famous for “The Boys in the Band” (1968), a groundbreaking play that shocked mainstream audiences with its open, unapologetic portrayal of gay life.

The son of an alcoholic father and a drug-abusing mother, Edward Martino “Mart” Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He attended an all-boys Roman Catholic high school and studied theater at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1957 and moved to New York City.

In New York, Crowley worked as a personal assistant for the film director Elia Kazan. He later worked for the actress Natalie Wood, who encouraged Crowley to write.

Inspired by a controversial article titled “Homosexual Drama And Its Disguises” by Stanley Kauffman, a theater critic for The New York Times, Crowley penned his first play, “The Boys in the Band.” About the gathering of gay men for a birthday party, it premiered Off Broadway more than a year before the Stonewall riots, at a time when homosexuality was marginalized and vilified.

“The Boys in the Band” ran for more than two years and a thousand performances, attracting both gay and straight theatergoers. Patrons included prominent figures such as former First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy and New York City Mayor John Lindsay. The play earned praise for its insight and honesty. A film adaptation was released in 1970. As the organized gay rights movement gained momentum, however, “The Boys in the Band” drew criticism for its reinforcement of “unflattering” gay stereotypes.

Crowley wrote and produced five additional plays, including “The Men From the Boys” (2002), a sequel to “The Boys in the Band.” He wrote for television, including the popular ABC mystery series “Hart to Hart,” which he produced. Crowley also appeared in several documentaries.

In 2009 Crowley won a Lambda Literary Award for his collected plays. The same year, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, “The Boys in the Band” was restaged on Broadway. It earned Crowley a 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival. In 2020 Netflix released a cinematic adaptation of the work with many of the same Broadway actors.

Crowley died in New York from complications of heart surgery.

Award-Winning Broadway Actor

b. September 21, 1969

“Pride is a protest. It’s a march, not a parade.”

Billy Porter is an Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actor and singer whose roles are frequently LGBT-themed. He was the first openly gay black man to win a Primetime Emmy Award in a lead acting category.

Porter was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father abandoned the family, and his stepfather sexually abused him. His mother suffered from a neurological disorder. A flamboyant child, Porter was suspected of being mentally ill and frequently bullied.

Porter found his escape in performing. He graduated from the Musical Theater Program at the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School. He earned a BFA in drama from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama in 1991 and completed a professional certificate in screenwriting from UCLA.

Porter received his first major national award 1992, winning Male Vocalist Grand Champion on the television program “Star Search.” In the following decade, he established himself as a rising star, performing on Broadway in the revival of “Grease” (1994), Off Broadway in “Myths and Hymns and Songs for a New World” (1995), and at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in “Dreamgirls” (2004). He also starred in several films, including the gay-themed “Twisted” (1996) and in “The Broken Hearts Club” (2000), which portrayed stories of gay romance.

In 2005 Porter performed a one-man autobiographical show, “Ghetto Superstar: The Man That I Am,” at Joe’s Pub, a noted Manhattan performance space. “Ghetto Superstar” earned Porter an Outstanding New York Theater nomination at the 2006 GLAAD Media Awards.

In 2013 Porter originated the principal role of Lola, the cabaret drag queen, in the hit Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.” The same year, he captured both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In 2014, as part of the cast performance of “Kinky Boots,” he won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

In 2018 Porter began starring as the character Pray Tell in the television series “Pose” about 1980s New York ballroom culture. In 2019 the role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The Emmy made him the first gay black man to be nominated and to win in a lead acting category. On the red carpet, Porter’s often wild, gender-bending fashion statements have added to the media attention he attracts.

Porter lives in Manhattan with his spouse, Adam Smith.

Award-Winning Actor

b. June 26, 1970 

“I know I should've come out sooner and I'm sorry for that. Especially when I think about the possibility that I might have made a difference in someone's life.”

Sean Patrick Hayes is an actor, singer, comedian and producer best known for his role as Jack McFarland on NBC’s award-winning sitcom “Will and Grace.” The role has earned him an Emmy, an American Comedy Award, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and numerous nominations.

Hayes was raised Roman Catholic by his single mother in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn. He studied piano performance at Illinois State University but left before graduating. He became the music director of a theater in St. Charles, Illinois, and worked as a classical pianist.

Hayes practiced improvisation at The Second City in Chicago, the renowned comedy enterprise that launched many of the industry’s top talents. In 1995 he moved to Los Angeles to work as a stand-up comedian. 

Hayes made his film debut in “Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss” in July 1998. Later that year, he was cast as the flamboyant, humorously self-obsessed gay character, Jack, in the new television comedy series, “Will and Grace.” The groundbreaking sitcom was one of the first widely broadcast programs to feature LGBT characters consistently and portray them positively.

“Will and Grace” ran for eight seasons (188 episodes) and garnered numerous awards and accolades. The series was revived in 2017 with its original core cast. 

In 2001 Hayes’s performance on “Will and Grace” earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Between 2001 and 2006 he earned seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the role. He also received six Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Television Series, four SAG Awards and multiple Satellite Award nominations for his work on the show.

In 2004 Hayes founded his own television production company, Hazy Mills Productions, which has produced popular NBC shows such as “Grimm” and “Hollywood Game Night.”

Hayes’s Broadway credits include “An Act of God” and “Promises, Promises,” for which he received the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. He hosted the live Tony Awards show that same year.

Although Hayes portrays a gay character on “Will and Grace,” he did not come out until he was interviewed by The Advocate in 2010. In 2018 he told the Hollywood Reporter, “I didn't have the DNA or the ability to be one spokesperson for an entire group of people.”
 
In 2013 Hayes received an honorary Ph.D. from Illinois State University. In 2014 he married his longtime partner, Scott Icenogle.

Playwright

b. November 3, 1938
d. March 24, 2020

“I think the theatre teaches us who we are, what our society is, where we are going.”

Terrence McNally is an award-winning American playwright whose career spans five decades. His work, which delves into themes of family, war, sexuality and religion, has earned him four Tony Awards. 

Raised in Texas, McNally moved to New York City to attend Columbia University. His first job was as a tutor for John Steinbeck’s children. During this time, McNally wrote his first play, and Steinbeck asked him to write the libretto for the musical based on his novel “East of Eden.”

McNally spend much of his early career writing and submitting works to theater companies around the country. At the famous Actors Studio, he met the playwright Edward Albee, with whom he became romantically involved. 

McNally’s first play was a flop, but he went on to write several successful off-Broadway shows, including “Witness” and “Sweet Eros.” His breakout, “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” was later adapted into a film starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Several of McNally’s plays have been adapted for the screen.

McNally’s “Lips Together, Teeth Apart,” about two married couples who spend a weekend on Fire Island, is a landmark play about AIDS. McNally also explored gay themes in the book for the musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” for which he won his first Tony Award. His play “Love! Valour! Compassion!” earned him another Tony Award for its portrayal of eight gay men facing issues of fidelity, love and happiness. In 1996 McNally was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. 

McNally’s controversial play “Corpus Christi” depicts a modern-day Jesus as a homosexual. The Manhattan Theater Club, the first company to consider staging it, received death threats and temporarily canceled the production before enjoying a successful run. The play continues to spark controversy . 

In 2014 McNally’s play “Mothers and Sons” opened on Broadway. It explores the relationship between a mother and her dead son’s former gay partner. The play revisits McNally’s 1990 television movie, “Andre’s Mother,” for which he won an Emmy Award.

McNally and his partner, Thomas Kirdahy, married in Vermont in 2003 and again in Washington, D.C., in 2010. In 2020 McNally died from complications of the novel coronavirus. His collection of works and notes are held in an open archive at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Actor

b. February 3, 1956 

“I think it is healthy to speak the truth, and be who you are, and be proud of that.

Nathan Lane is an award-winning film, television and theater actor. He has received three Emmys, two Tony Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. 

Born Joseph Lane in Jersey City, New Jersey, to an Irish Catholic family, he changed his name to Nathan after the character Nathan Detroit in the musical “Guys and Dolls”—a role he later played on Broadway. After graduating from a Catholic high school, Lane moved to New York City, where he performed as a stand-up comic. In 1982, he was cast in his first television sitcom, “One of the Boys.” The following year, he landed his breakout role in a Broadway revival of Noel Coward’s “Present Laughter.”  

Through the 1990s, Lane appeared in a series of successful Broadway shows, including Terrence McNally’s gay-themed play “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.” In 1996, he starred in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” for which he received his first Tony Award. The following year, he was honored along with his fellow cast members with a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for “The Birdcage.” 

Called “our greatest comic stage star” by the New York Times, Lane won his second Tony Award for his turn as Max Bialystock in “The Producers” in 1995. He reprised the role in the film version and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance. 

When Lane came out to his mother, she responded, “I’d rather you were dead,” to which he replied, “I knew you’d understand.” He came out publicly soon after Matthew Shepard’s death, and has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. He was recognized by GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project for his work on behalf of the LGBT community. 

In 2006, Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Two years later, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Lane and his long-term partner, Devlin Elliott, reside in New York. 

Playwright

b. March 12, 1928

“I think we should all live on the precipice of life, as fully and as dangerously as possible.”

Edward Albee is a celebrated playwright who won three Pulitzer Prizes and three Tony Awards.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” his first Broadway play, helped establish Albee as one of America’s greatest playwrights.

Born Edward Harvey in Washington D.C., he was adopted as an infant by the prominent Albee family of New York. The family’s ownership of a national theater chain nurtured Albee’s passion for the arts.

Albee and his parents were constantly at odds over his desire to pursue a career in theater. After failing out of two private schools, he graduated high school and matriculated to Trinity College.

In 1949, Albee dropped out of Trinity to pursue a career in writing. He moved to Greenwich Village, an artistic epicenter. Albee experimented with writing poetry and short fiction before finding a niche in playwriting.

Albee’s early Off-Broadway shows received praise for their unconventional themes, including homoeroticism. He made his Broadway debut with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” which earned Albee his first Tony Award.

Albee has written more than 25 plays. His willingness to experiment with various styles earned him Pulitzer Prizes for “A Delicate Balance,” “Seascape” and “Three Tall Women.” He received two additional Tony Awards for “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” and a revival of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Since moving to Greenwich Village, he has lived an openly gay life. Recognized for pioneering the depiction of homosexuality on stage, Albee weaves same-sex relationships throughout his work.

He lived for 35 years with Jonathan Thomas, his partner, until Winters’s death in 2005. Albee received a Special Tony Lifetime Achievement Award and The Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award for exceptional accomplishment in the arts.

Playwright/Director

b. July 14, 1917

d. May 5, 2011

“Entertainment is dessert. It needs to be balanced by the main course: theater of substance.”

Arthur Laurents was a Tony Award-winning playwright, director and screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for “West Side Story,” “Gypsy” and “La Cage Aux Folles."

Born Arthur Levine, Laurents grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Because of anti-Semitism, he changed his last name to the less Jewish-sounding Laurents.

After graduating from Cornell University, Laurents took a class in radio writing and produced “Now Playing Tomorrow,” a comedic fantasy broadcast on CBS Radio. He was drafted into the Army in World War II, but never saw combat. He wrote training films and dramatized radio shows for the Armed Forces.

Laurents started his Broadway career with “Home of the Brave” (1945), which was adapted into a film. He moved to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. He adapted the play “Rope’s End” into a movie, but his Hollywood career was cut short when he was blacklisted for Communist sympathies. Subsequently, he returned to New York City and resumed writing for theater and film.

Laurents wrote 12 plays and musicals, including “The Bird Cage” (1950), “The Time of the Cuckoo” (1952) and “A Clearing in the Woods” (1957). He wrote screenplays for “Anastasia” (1956), “The Way We Were” (1973) and “The Turning Point” (1977).

His scripts for “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” earned Tony nominations for Best Musical. In 1968, the Tony for Best Musical went to “Hallelujah, Baby!,” for which Laurents wrote the script. In 1984, he won a Tony for Best Direction of a Musical for “La Cage Aux Folles.”

In 2010, his autobiography, “Original Story By Arthur Laurents: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood,” was published.

Laurents was in a relationship with actor Tom Hatcher for 52 years. In 2010, the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award was established. It annually awards a $150,000 enabling grant to an unproduced play of social relevance.

Actor

b. December 27,1901

d. May 6, 1992

“Glamour is what I sell, it's my stock in trade.”

Marlene Dietrich was a movie star and cabaret singer who appeared in dozens of films during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She was one of the highest paid actors of her time.

Born Marie Magdalene Dietrich in Berlin, Germany, she was the younger of two daughters in a well-to-do family. In her mid-teens, Dietrich studied acting. In the early 1920’s, she began her career in cinema and met her future husband Rudolf Sieber. Dietrich remained married to Sieber for more than 50 years. During the marriage she had a series of affairs with famous men and women.

Her breakout role was as sultry cabaret singer Lola Lola in the German film “The Blue Angel” (1930), directed by Josef von Sternberg. Dietrich and von Sternberg moved to Hollywood, where he directed her in six films. For their first collaboration, “Morocco” (1930), Dietrich earned an Oscar nomination. She played a singer dressed in a man’s tuxedo and top hat who kisses a female audience member on the lips.

Among Dietrich’s most memorable films are “Desire” (1936), co-starring Gary Copper; “Destry Rides Again” (1939), which showcased her comedic talent; “Witness for the Prosecution (1957), her top box office hit; and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), her final motion picture.

Dietrich became an American citizen in 1937 and performed for Allied troops during World War II. In 1947, she was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom, which she called her proudest accomplishment. As her film career waned, she found success for nearly 20 years as a cabaret singer. Collaborating with musical arranger Burt Bacharach, Dietrich turned her nightclub act into a theatrical one-woman show. Dietrich and Bacharach recorded four albums and several singles.

In 1967, she performed her show on Broadway and received a Special Tony Award. In 1975, after a series of on-stage falls and injuries, Dietrich retired from show business. She spent the final decade of her life in Paris, secluded and bedridden.

In 2002, Dietrich was posthumously proclaimed an honorary citizen of Berlin with a plaque describing her as “one of the few German actresses that attained international significance.”

Songwriter

b. June 9, 1891
d. October 15, 1964

"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now, God knows, anything goes." 
    
Cole Porter grew up wealthy - his grandfather, James Omar Cole, was a prosperous coal and timber speculator. Porter began musical training during his early childhood. Despite his musical talents, however, Porter's grandfather envisioned an attorney's career for him and sent him to Yale University.

At Yale, Porter expanded his musical repertoire and composed 300 songs, including two football fight songs, "Yale Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale", which are still played today. After one year at Harvard Law School, Porter chose to follow his true passion and transferred to Harvard's School of Music.

Porter enjoyed brief success in 1915 with his first song in a Broadway musical. A year later, his first full production, "See America First," closed after only two weeks.

After several other failures, Porter moved to Paris. The songs he wrote there, including "You Don't Know Paree" and "I Love Paris", reflect his affection for the city. In 1928, his first big hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," appeared in the musical "Paris."

Porter lived in an era of strict homosexuality taboos. Public knowledge of his sexuality, Porter feared, could compromise his success. Like many gay public figures, Porter married a woman for convenience. His wife, Linda Lee Thomas, may have been bisexual. The arrangement helped both Thomas and Porter. Thomas remained a socialite with a high-profile husband, while Porter hid his sexuality under the guise of a marriage.

Porter had relationships with talented men, including Boston socialite Howard Sturgess, architect Ed Tauch and choreographer Nelson Barclift, the inspiration for "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to."

A horse riding accident in 1937 badly crippled Porter's legs. His condition left him in constant pain and required more than 30 surgeries. He continued to write songs, though his prominence waned until 1948, when he wrote "Kiss Me, Kate," one of his most famous works. The production earned the Tony Award for Best Musical, and Porter won the Tony for Best Composer and Lyricist.

His physical and emotional condition quickly deteriorated with the loss of his mother in 1952, his wife in 1954, and his amputated right leg in 1958. Porter never wrote again, and remained in relative seclusion until his own death, at age 73, in 1964.