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Harvey Fierstein

 
Dictionary: Fier·stein   (fīr'stēn') pronunciation, Harvey
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Born 1954.

American playwright and actor noted for his comedies, including Torch Song Trilogy (1982).


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Works: Works by Harvey Fierstein
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(b. 1954)

1981Torch Song Trilogy. These three one-act plays explore the lives of gay men with wit and compassion. Fierstein, an actor and playwright, wins high praise from critics for his sensitive, hilarious, and wide-ranging exploration of gay life. His play wins the Tony Award for best play, and he earns a Tony Award for his starring performance.

Actor: Harvey Fierstein
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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jun 06, 1954 in New York City, New York
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Comedy Drama
  • Career Highlights: Mrs. Doubtfire, The Harvest, Torch Song Trilogy
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Times of Harvey Milk (1983)

Biography

A graduate of the Pratt Institute, actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein made his off-Broadway debut in something called Pork. Outspokenly homosexual, Fierstein has successfully smashed previous "gay" stereotypes with his deep, ratchety voice and his engaging "You got a problem with that?" belligerence. In 1982, Fierstein wrote and starred in the stage play Torch Song Trilogy, a bittersweet three-part comedy concerning the homosexual experience in the AIDS era; the play won two Tony Awards and became one of the longest-running Broadway productions in history, toting up 1,222 performances. Fierstein repeated his stage characterization of Arnold Beckoff for the heavily rewritten and severely shortened 1988 movie version of Torch Song Trilogy. The actor's crossover performances in mainstream roles have often been quite successful, notably his appearance as the likable cosmetician brother of Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). In 1994, Fierstein co-starred in the short-lived TV series Daddies' Girls, unfortunately lapsing into some of the clichéd gay mannerisms which he had so successfully avoided in his previous work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Harvey Fierstein
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Harvey Fierstein

Fierstein at the 2009 Metropolitan Opera premiere
Born Harvey Forbes Fierstein
June 6, 1954 (1954-06-06) (age 55)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actor/Playwright
Years active 1982–present

Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6, 1954) is an American actor and playwright, noted for the early (1982) distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and playing the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay transvestite-performer and his quest for true love and family. He has since effectively become an unofficial, ubiquitous celebrity spokesperson and champion for gay civil rights.

Contents

Personal life

Fierstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jacqueline Harriet (née Gilbert), a school librarian, and Irving Fierstein, a handkerchief manufacturer.[1] He is Jewish by birth[2] and is an atheist.[3]

Fierstein occasionally writes columns about gay issues. He was openly gay at a time when very few celebrities were, and never needed to come out.[4] His careers as a stand-up comic and female impersonator are mostly behind him. Fierstein resides in Ridgefield, Connecticut.[5]

Career

The gravel-voiced actor perhaps is known best for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in both Off-Broadway (with the young Matthew Broderick) and on (with Estelle Getty and Fisher Stevens). The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award, and the film adaptation earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Male Lead.

Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances. His other playwriting credits include Safe Sex, Spookhouse, and Forget Him.

In 2007, Fierstein wrote the book to the musical A Catered Affair in which he also starred. After tryouts at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in Fall 2007, it began previews on Broadway in March 2008 and opened on April 17. He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the show won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical.

Acting

Fierstein made his acting debut at La MaMa, E.T.C. in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. Fierstein continued to appear at La MaMa and other venues but also, having some aspirations to become a painter, enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Pratt in 1973.

Harvey Fierstein (left) with Anthony Rapp at the Annual Flea Market and Grand Auction hosted by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, September, 2006.

In addition to Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles and A Catered Affair, Fierstein's Broadway acting credits include playing the mother, Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical>. He later replaced Alfred Molina as Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Fierstein and Tommy Tune are the only individuals to have won Tony Awards in four different categories.

Besides his leading role in the film version of Torch Song Trilogy co-starring Matthew Broderick and Anne Bancroft, Fierstein's film roles include Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' makeup-artist brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, and Merv Green in Death to Smoochy, in addition to parts in Garbo Talks, Duplex, Kull the Conqueror, and Independence Day. He narrated the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, for which he won a News & Documentary Emmy Award. He also voiced the role of Yao in Walt Disney's animated feature Mulan, a role he later reprised for the video game Kingdom Hearts II and the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II.

On television, Fierstein was featured as the voice of Karl, Homer Simpson's assistant, in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons, and the voice of Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation. Additional credits include Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, the Showtime TV movie Common Ground (which he also wrote), and Cheers, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He sang a tribute to Katie Couric on the Today Show on May 31, 2006, her last day as anchor. He appeared as Heat Miser in the television movie remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus in December 2006. His most recent television performance was an episode of Family Guy, in which he played an overweight, chainsmoking mother.

References

  1. ^ "Harvey Fierstein Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/68/Harvey-Fierstein.html. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
  2. ^ Mark J. Terrill (27 November 2003). "'Hairspray' drag queen to play Mrs. Claus at Macy's parade". USATODAY. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-27-parade-mrs-claus_x.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
  3. ^ McKinley, Jesse (2005-01-02). "Fierstein As Tevye: Sounds Crazy, No?". The New York Times. pp. 2.5. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/theater/newsandfeatures/02mcki.html. ""I mean, I don't believe in God, I don't believe in heaven or hell, but I pray three or four times a day."" 
  4. ^ "Harvey Fierstein". Broadway: The Amercian Musical. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/fierstein_h.html. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
  5. ^ "Harvey Fierstein political contributions". http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Harvey_Fierstein.php. Retrieved 2009-03-21. 

External links

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Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

John Wood (1976) · Al Pacino (1977) · Barnard Hughes (1978) · Tom Conti (1979) · John Rubinstein (1980) · Ian McKellen (1981) · Roger Rees (1982) · Harvey Fierstein (1983) · Jeremy Irons (1984) · Derek Jacobi (1985) · Judd Hirsch (1986) · James Earl Jones (1987) · Ron Silver (1988) · Philip Bosco (1989) · Robert Morse (1990) · Nigel Hawthorne (1991) · Judd Hirsch (1992) · Ron Leibman (1993) · Stephen Spinella (1994) · Ralph Fiennes (1995) · George Grizzard (1996) · Christopher Plummer (1997) · Anthony LaPaglia (1998) · Brian Dennehy (1999) · Stephen Dillane (2000)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (2001-present)

Nathan Lane (2001) · John Lithgow (2002) · Harvey Fierstein (2003) · Hugh Jackman (2004) · Norbert Leo Butz (2005) · John Lloyd Young (2006) · David Hyde Pierce (2007) · Paulo Szot (2008) · David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish (2009)

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