José Ferrer

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José Ferrer
Image:Jose Ferrer in Crisis trailer.jpg
in the trailer for Crisis (1950)
Birth name José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón
Born January 8 1909(1909-01-08)
Santurce, Puerto Rico
Died January 26 1992 (aged 83)
Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.
Spouse(s) Uta Hagen
(1938-1948)
Phyllis Hill
(1948-1953)
Rosemary Clooney
(1953-1961, 1964-1967)
Stella Magee

José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1909 – January 26, 1992), was an Academy Award-winning American actor and film director of Puerto Rican origin, born in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was a 1933 graduate of Princeton University, where he wrote a senior thesis titled French Naturalism and Pardo Bazán and was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club.

Contents

[edit] Career

Ferrer first became famous on Broadway in 1935. In 1940, he played his first starring role on Broadway, the title role in Charley's Aunt — part of it in drag. But his next triumph was even greater, as Iago in Margaret Webster's famous 1943 Broadway production of Othello, starring Paul Robeson in the title role, Webster as Emilia, and Ferrer's wife at the time, Uta Hagen, as Desdemona. It became the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play staged in the U.S., a record it still holds. Then, in 1946, came his greatest stage triumph, the title role in Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, a performance which won him a Tony Award, and which he would repeat throughout his career, always winning acclaim for it.

Ferrer made his film debut with Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc in 1948, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, for "Best Supporting Actor". Ferrer won an Academy Award as "Best Actor" for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1950 film version of Cyrano de Bergerac only weeks after being subpoenaed to appear before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee as a suspected Communist, charges that Ferrer vehemently denied.

In 1952 Ferrer won a Tony Award for directing three plays (The Shrike, Stalag 17, The Fourposter) in the same season and earned another for his performance in The Shrike. Additional Broadway directing credits include Twentieth Century, Carmelina, My Three Angels, and The Andersonville Trial.

Also in 1952, Ferrer portrayed French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in John Huston's Moulin Rouge , for which he was Oscar nominated for the third and last time. He appeared in 1953's Miss Sadie Thompson opposite Rita Hayworth, in 1954's The Caine Mutiny and the MGM musical Deep in My Heart (portraying composer Sigmund Romberg). In 1955 Ferrer directed himself in the film version of The Shrike, with June Allyson. The Cockleshell Heroes followed a year later, along with The Great Man, both of which he also directed. In 1958 Ferrer directed and appeared in I Accuse! and The High Cost of Loving. Ferrer also directed, but did not appear in, Return to Peyton Place in 1961 and also the remake of State Fair in 1962.

In 1959 Ferrer directed the original stage production of Saul Levitt's The Andersonville Trial, about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamous Civil War prison. It was a hit and featured George C. Scott in one of his most notable early roles. And he took over direction of the troubled musical Juno from Vincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over from Tony Richardson. The show folded after 16 performances and mixed-to extremely negative critical reaction. In retrospect, much of Juno was very well done, especially the score by Marc Blitzstein and the choreography by Agnes de Mille, but the show's commercial failure (along with his earlier flop, Oh, Captain!), was a considerable setback to Ferrer's directing career. Nor did the short-lived The Girl Who Came to Supper do much for his acting career.

In the midst of his film work, Ferrer would return to the stage every so often, and the most notable performance of his later career was in the dual role of 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 1967, and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show.

Ferrer's other notable films include Otto Preminger's Whirlpool co-starring Gene Tierney in 1949, Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 (he considered this to be his finest film performance), The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, Ship of Fools also in 1965, Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy in 1982, and Dune in 1984.

In 1980 he had a memorable role as future Justice Abe Fortas in the made-for-television film version of Anthony Lewis's Gideon's Trumpet.

Ferrer had a recurring role as Julia Duffy's insanely wealthy WASPy father on the popular Newhart television sitcom in the U.S. in the 1980s. He also had a memorable recurring role as elegant and flamboyant attorney Reuben Marino on the soap opera Another World in the early 1980s. He narrated the very first episode of the popular 1964 sitcom Bewitched, in mock documentary style.

He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed on the 1968 Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special The Little Drummer Boy.

[edit] Family

Ferrer had five children with singer-actress Rosemary Clooney: Miguel was born in 1955, Maria in 1956, Gabriel in 1957, Monsita in 1958, and Rafael in 1960. Clooney was Ferrer's third wife. The two were married in 1953, divorced in 1961, and remarried in 1964, only to be divorced again in 1967. Ferrer had previously been married to famed actress and acting teacher Uta Hagen (1938-1948), by whom he had a daughter, Leticia (Lettie), and actress Phyllis Hill (1948-1953). At the time of his death, Ferrer was married to Stella Magee, whom he married in the late sixties.

Ferrer was the uncle of actor George Clooney and the father-in-law of singer Debby Boone. José Ferrer died following a brief battle with colon cancer in Coral Gables, Florida at the age of 83. He was laid to rest in Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in Old San Juan.

[edit] Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1948 Joan of Arc The Dauphin, Charles VII, later King of France Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1949 Whirlpool David Korvo as Jose Ferrer
1950 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Academy Award for Best Actor; Golden Globe
Crisis Raoul Farrago as Jose Ferrer
The Secret Fury José uncredited
1952 Moulin Rouge Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec/The Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
Anything Can Happen Giorgi Papashvily
1953 Miss Sadie Thompson Alfred Davidson as Jose Ferrer
1954 Deep in My Heart Sigmund Romberg
The Caine Mutiny Lt. Barney Greenwald Nominated - BAFTA Award
1955 The Cockleshell Heroes Major Stringer as Jose Ferrer
The Shrike Jim Downs
1956 The Great Man Joe Harris
1958 The High Cost of Loving Jim 'Jimbo' Fry
I Accuse! Capt. Alfred Dreyfus
1961 Return to Peyton Place Voice of Mark Steele, Second Interviewer uncredited
Forbid Them Not Narrator voice
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Turkish Bey as Jose Ferrer
1963 Verspätung in Marienborn Cowan the Reporter as Jose Ferrer
Nine Hours to Rama Supt. Gopal Das
1964 Cyrano et d'Artagnan Cyrano de Bergerac
1965 Ship of Fools Siegfried Rieber
The Greatest Story Ever Told Herod Antipas
1967 Cervantes Hassan Bey
Enter Laughing Mr. Marlowe as Jose Ferrer
1975 El Clan de los inmorales Inspector Reed
1976 The Big Bus Ironman
Forever Young, Forever Free Father Alberto
Paco Fermin Flores
Voyage of the Damned Manuel Benitez
1977 The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover Lionel McCoy
Who Has Seen the Wind The Ben
The Sentinel Priest of the Brotherhood
Crash! Marc Denne
1978 The Swarm Dr. Andrews as Jose Ferrer
Dracula's Dog Inspector Branco
Fedora Doctor Vando
1979 Natural Enemies Harry Rosenthal
The Fifth Musketeer Athos
A Life of Sin Bishop
1980 The Big Brawl Domenici
1981 Bloody Birthday Doctor
1982 Blood Tide Nereus
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Leopold as Jose Ferrer
1983 To Be or Not to Be Prof. Siletski
The Being Mayor Gordon Lane
1984 Dune Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
The Evil That Men Do Dr. Hector Lomelin
1987 The Sun and the Moon
1990 Hired to Kill Rallis
Old Explorers Warner Watney
1992 Laam Gong juen ji faan fei jo fung wan

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Broderick Crawford
for All the King's Men 		Academy Award for Best Actor
1950
for Cyrano de Bergerac 		Succeeded by
Humphrey Bogart
for The African Queen
Preceded by
Broderick Crawford
for All the King's Men 		Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1951
for Cyrano de Bergerac 		Succeeded by
Fredric March
for Death of a Salesman
de:José Ferrer

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