Jed Harris

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]

Personal history

Jed Harris was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 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. He also had a relationship with Henry Fonda's first wife Margaret Sullavan around 1932/4.

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]

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]

Harris also appeared on The Dick Cavett Show on PBS.

Notes

References

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

External links

• Jed Harris at the Internet Movie Database
• Jed Harris at the Internet Broadway Database