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'Jed Harris' (born 'Jacob Hirsch Horowitz' in Lviv, Austria-Hungary) (February 25, 1900 - November 15, 1979) was a renowned Austrian-American theater producer and director, and writer of film. He was the basis for Laurence Olivier's interpretation of Richard III, and also the inspiration for Walt Disney's Big Bad Wolf.^[1]

Contents

Personal history

Career

Theatre

Film

Notes

References

External links

Personal history

Jed Harris was Born in Vienna, Austria, on Feb 25, 1900.
By the time he was 28, Harris had produced a record four consecutive Broadway hits, over the course of eighteen months.^[2]
Harris was married three times, first to Anita Green (December 11, 1925 – 1929), then to Louise Platt (1939 – 1941) — with whom he collaborated on The Traitor and Spring Dance, and finally to Beatrice Allen (April 1, 1957 – December 1957). His romances included one with the American fashion designer Pauline Fairfax Potter, and he had a son, Jones, with renowned actress and playwright Ruth Gordon born in 1929.

Career

Theatre

Jed Harris produced and directed 31 shows between 1925 and 1956. His productions garnered 7 awards, including a Tony award and Pulitzer Prize for playwright Thornton Wilder. Harris directed four actors in award-winning roles in Child of Fortune, The Crucible, The Traitor, The Heiress, and Our Town.
Harris was known for being particularly hard to work with, as depicted in many famous satires of his character.
According to historian Louis Botto, rival "George S. Kaufman [who worked with Harris on both The Front Page and The Royal Family hated him and once said when he died, he wanted to be cremated and have somebody throw his ashes in Jed Harris' face." The 1932 play Twentieth Century became a huge scandal in the theater world, as it was clearly based on Harris. Similarly, "Laurence Olivier, [who] was directed by Jed Harris in that famous 1930s play The Green Bay Tree, hated him so much that years later when he played the evil Richard III, he said he based his whole character on Jed Harris."^[3]
However loathed he may have been in the theatrical community, Jed Harris directed and produced such luminaries as Leo G. Carroll, Laurence Olivier , Lillian Gish, Basil Rathbone, Elaine Stritch, Ruth Gordon, Walter Huston, Osgood Perkins (father of Anthony Perkins), and Katharine Hepburn.

Theatrical history^[4]

Year	Title	Position	Run
1956	''Child of Fortune''	Director/Producer	Nov 13, 1956 - Dec 1, 1956
1953	''The Crucible''	Director	Jan 22, 1953 - Jul 11, 1953
1949	''The Traitor''	Producer/Director	Mar 31, 1949 - May 28, 1949
1948	''Red Gloves''	Director	Dec 4, 1948 - Mar 12, 1949
1947	''The Heiress''	Director	Sep 29, 1947 - Sep 18, 1948
1946	''Loco''	Producer/Director	Oct 16, 1946 - Nov 16, 1946
	''Apple of His Eye''	Producer/Director	Feb 5, 1946 - May 18, 1946
1945	''One-Man Show''	Producer/Director	Feb 8, 1945 - Mar 10, 1945
1943	''The World's Full of Girls''	Producer	Dec 6, 1943 - Dec 12, 1943
	''Dark Eyes''	Producer/Director	Jan 14, 1943 - Jul 31, 1943
1938	''Our Town''	Producer/Director	Feb 4, 1938 - Nov 1938
1937	''A Doll's House''	Producer/Director	Dec 27, 1937 - May 1938
1936	''Spring Dance''	Producer/Director	Aug 25, 1936 - Sep 1936
1935	''Life's Too Short''	Producer/Director	Sep 20, 1935 - Sep 1935
1933	''The Lake ''	Producer	Dec 26, 1933 - Feb 1934
	''The Green Bay Tree''	Producer/Director	Oct 20, 1933 - Mar 1934
1932	''The Fatal Alibi''	Producer	Feb 8, 1932 - Mar 1, 1932
1931	''Wonder Boy''	Producer/Director	Oct 22, 1931 - Nov 1931
	''The Wiser They Are''	Producer	Apr 6, 1931 - May 1931
1931	''The Inspector General''	Producer	Dec 23, 1930 - Dec 1930
	''Mr. Gilhooley''	Producer/Director	Sep 30, 1930 - Oct 1930
	''Uncle Vanya''	Producer/Director	Sep 22, 1930 - Oct 1930
	''Uncle Vanya''	Producer/Director	Apr 15, 1930 - Jul 1930
1929	''Serena Blandish''	Producer	Jan 23, 1929 - Apr 1929
1928	''The Front Page''	Producer	Aug 14, 1928 - Apr 1929
1927	''The Royal Family''	Producer	Dec 28, 1927 - Oct 1928
	''Coquette''	Producer	Nov 8, 1927 - Sep 1928
	''Spread Eagle''	Producer	Apr 4, 1927 - Jun 1927
1926	''Broadway''	Producer	Sep 16, 1926 - Feb 11, 1928
	''Love 'em and Leave 'em''	Producer	Feb 3, 1926 - Jun 1926
1925	''Weak Sisters''	Producer	Oct 13, 1925 - Nov 1925

Film

While many of his hit plays were translated for the silver screen, Jed Harris was hesitant to make the jump to working on films. His first foray into film was when a play he collaborated on, entitled ''Broadway'', was adapted in 1929. However starting with the 1952 film The Light Touch, starring George Sanders, Harris wrote the story for a trio of films including Night People starring Gregory Peck and Buddy Ebsen, and Operation Mad Ball, starring Jack Lemmon, Dick York, and Mickey Rooney. ^[5]
Also appeared on Dick Cavett talk show on PBS.

Notes

1. Coleman, T (2005) ''Olivier''. Henry Hilt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-7536-4
2. Anecdote about Jed Harris
3. Playbill.com
4. IDBD.com
5. IMDB.com

References

★ ''The Curse of Genius'' by Martin Gottfried, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1984

External links

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