Herbert Ross

Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.

He is known for directing musicals and comedies such as Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), Play It Again, Sam (1972), The Sunshine Boys, Funny Lady (both 1975), The Goodbye Girl (1977), California Suite (1978), and Pennies From Heaven (1981). His later films include Footloose (1984), and Steel Magnolias (1989). For the drama The Turning Point (1977) he received two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director and received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director.

He is also known for his work on Broadway as a choreographer for productions for Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, and Arthur Laurents. His credits include A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1951, Finian's Rainbow in 1960, I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962, and Do I Hear a Waltz? in 1965. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Choreography for Anyone Can Whistle in 1964.

Early life

Ross was born on May 13, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Louis Chester Ross,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a postal clerk, and his wife Martha (née Grundfast). His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When Ross was nine, his mother died and his father moved the family to Miami and opened a luncheonette.<ref name="NYTObit">Template:Cite news</ref>

After dropping out of high school, Ross went to New York to pursue an acting career but became smitten with dance and studied dance.

Career

Theatre

Dancer

In 1942, Ross' stage debut came as "Third Witch" in a touring company of Macbeth. The next year brought his first Broadway performance credits with Something for the Boys, as a dancer. Ross was a dancer in Follow the Girls (1943–44), Laffing Room Only (1944–45), Beggar's Holiday (1946–47), and Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!.

Choreographer

By 1950, he was a choreographer with the American Ballet Theatre and choreographed his first Broadway production, the Arthur Schwartz-Dorothy Fields musical adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951). For TV he choreographed All Star Revue, The Milton Berle Show, and The Steve Allen Plymouth Show. Ross's first film assignment came as an uncredited choreographer on Carmen Jones (1954).<ref name="Kisselgoff">Template:Cite news</ref>

Back on Broadway he choreographed House of Flowers (1954) for Peter Brook, and The Body Beautiful (1958). He choreographed some TV specials: The Jerry Lewis Show (1957), Wonderful Town (1958), Meet Me in St Louis (1959) and A Christmas Festival (1959). On Broadway Ross directed and choreographed a revival of Finian's Rainbow (1960). In 1965, Ross choreographed the original production of On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever and, without credit, took over the helm from the director of record, Robert Lewis, when the musical ran into trouble in Boston during its pre-Broadway tryout tour.

Ross went to England where he choreographed the feature film The Young Ones (1961), starring Cliff Richard. He returned to Broadway to be musical director on The Gay Life (1961–62) and I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962), the latter directed by Arthur Laurents and starring Barbra Streisand. He did The Bacchantes (1961) for TV. Ross then choreographed a second Cliff Richard musical in England, Summer Holiday (1963). On Broadway he choreographed Tovarich (1963) with Vivien Leigh and Anyone Can Whistle (1964) with Laurents. For TV he did musical numbers for The Fantasticks (1964), The Bell Telephone Hour, Delia Scala Show (1962), Rinaldo in campo (1963), and The Nut House!! (1964) and staged numbers for the films Inside Daisy Clover (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and Doctor Dolittle (1967).

On Broadway Ross directed and choreographed Kelly (1965), and choreographed Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965-66). He did some additional staging on The Apple Tree (1966–67) directed by Mike Nichols. Ross was choreographer and director of musical numbers for Funny Girl (1968), produced by Ray Stark.<ref name="Kisselgoff"/><ref name="Bosworth1977">Template:Cite news</ref>

Film

His film directorial debut came with the musical version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), made by MGM-British, with Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark. It was produced by Arthur P. Jacobs who had made Doctor Dolittle two years prior, and just like that film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was a box-office disappointment. However, Ross' second feature as director, The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), was a big hit. The film was produced by Ray Stark and starred Streisand.

Ross did T.R. Baskin (1971) then Play It Again, Sam (1972), the latter produced by Jacobs and starring Woody Allen based on his play. Ross made The Last of Sheila (1973) co-written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, and Funny Lady (1975) with Stark and Streisand. Ross directed The Sunshine Boys (1975) based on a play and script by Neil Simon, starting a long collaboration between the two men; Stark produced. Ross directed The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), and The Turning Point (1977); Ross produced the latter.<ref name="Bosworth1977"/>

Ross had two big hits with Simon scripts produced by Stark, The Goodbye Girl (1977) and California Suite (1978). Ross returned to Broadway to direct Neil Simon's Chapter Two (1977–79). After doing the ballet film Nijinsky (1980)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> he directed Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980–81) on Broadway. He followed this with Pennies from Heaven (1981) and the film version of I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982). His last film with Simon was Max Dugan Returns (1983).

Later career

Ross had a huge hit with Footloose (1984). He followed this with two comedies, Protocol (1984) with Goldie Hawn and The Secret of My Success (1987) with Michael J. Fox. Less successful was Dancers (1987).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Ross had one last big hit with another play adaptation, Steel Magnolias (1989). In the 1990s, he directed My Blue Heaven (1990), True Colors (1991), Undercover Blues (1993) and Boys on the Side (1995).

Personal life

In 1959, he married Nora Kaye, a ballerina,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with whom he produced four films.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1987, his wife Nora died of cancer.<ref name="NYTObit"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 1988, he married for the second time to Lee Radziwiłł,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the younger sister of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The marriage ended in divorce in 2001, shortly before his death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2013, Radziwiłł described their relationship as follows:<ref name="Haslam">Template:Cite news</ref>

He was certainly different from anybody else I'd been involved with, and the film world sounded exciting. Well, it wasn't. I hated Hollywood, and the provincialism of the industry ... Herbert had been married to the ballerina Nora Kaye until she died, and unbeknownst to me was still obsessed by her. It was 'Nora said this, Nora did it like that, Nora liked brown and orange.'<ref name="Haslam"/>

On October 9, 2001, Ross died from heart failure in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A memorial was held for him at the Majestic Theater on West 44th Street in New York where Leslie Browne, Barbara Cook, Arthur Laurents, Marsha Mason, Mike Nichols and Mary-Louise Parker spoke of Ross.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was interred with Kaye in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.<ref>NNDB</ref>

Works

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Note
1954	Carmen Jones	Template:No	Template:No	Choreographer; uncredited
1961	The Young Ones	Template:No	Template:No	Choreographer
1963	Summer Holiday	Template:No	Template:No
1968	Funny Girl	Template:No	Template:No
1969	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Template:Yes	Template:No	Directorial debut
1970	The Owl and the Pussycat	Template:Yes	Template:No
1971	T.R. Baskin	Template:Yes	Template:No
1972	Play It Again, Sam	Template:Yes	Template:No
1973	The Last of Sheila	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Debut (Film producer)
1975	The Sunshine Boys	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Funny Lady	Template:Yes	Template:No
1976	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1977	The Turning Point	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	The Goodbye Girl	Template:Yes	Template:No
1978	California Suite	Template:Yes	Template:No
1980	Nijinsky	Template:Yes	Template:No
1981	Pennies From Heaven	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1982	I Ought to Be in Pictures	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1983	Max Dugan Returns	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1984	Footloose	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Protocol	Template:Yes	Template:No
1987	The Secret of My Success	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	Dancers	Template:Yes	Template:No
1989	Steel Magnolias	Template:Yes	Template:No
1990	My Blue Heaven	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1991	True Colors	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	Soapdish	Template:No	Template:Yes
1993	Undercover Blues	Template:Yes	Template:No
1995	Boys on the Side	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Final film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Wonderful Town	Director	Television film; Debut
1964-66	The Bell Telephone Hour	Producer	6 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1942	Macbeth	Actor (Third Witch)	Debut (Touring)
1943	Something for the Boys	Dancer	Debut (Broadway)
1944	Laffing Room Only	Ensemble	Broadway
1946	Beggar's Holiday	Bartender / Dancer	Broadway
1948	"Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!"	Ensemble	Broadway
1950	American Ballet Theatre	Choreographer
1951	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn		Debut (Broadway production)
1952	Three Wishes for Jamie		Broadway
1954	House of Flowers		Broadway
1958	The Body Beautiful
1960	Finian's Rainbow		Broadway, revival
1961	The Gay Life	Musical staging	Broadway
1962	I Can Get It for You Wholesale		Broadway
1963	Tovarich	Choreographer	Broadway
1964	Anyone Can Whistle
1965	Do I Hear a Waltz?
	On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
	Kelly	Director; Choreographer
	The Apple Tree	Addt. Musical staging
1977	Chapter Two	Director	Neil Simon
1980	I Ought to Be in Pictures		Neil Simon Broadway

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1964	Tony Award	Best Choreography	Anyone Can Whistle	Template:Nom
1977	Academy Awards	Best Picture	The Turning Point	Template:Nom
		Best Director		Template:Nom
1977	Golden Globe Award	Best Director		Template:Won
	Directors Guild of America Award	Outstanding Directing - Feature Film		Template:Nom
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Best Director		Template:Won

External links

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