Jed Harris

American theatre director and producer

the theatrical producer and director

Jed Harris (born Jacob Hirsch Horowitz; February 25, 1900 – November 15, 1979) was an Austrian born American theatrical producer and director. His many successful Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s include Broadway (1926), Coquette (1927), The Royal Family (1927), The Front Page (1928), Uncle Vanya (1930), The Green Bay Tree (1933) and Our Town (1938). He later directed the original Broadway productions of The Heiress (1947) and The Crucible (1953).

Jed Harris was born Jacob Hirsch Horowitz and was on the cover of Time magazine. Over the course of his career, his productions gained seven 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. Described by The New York Times as "a flamboyant man of intermittent charm", Harris was famous for his self confidence, appeal to women, and sometimes outrageous and abusive behavior. Playwright and director George S. Kaufman, who worked with Harris on The Royal Family (1927) and The Front Page (1928), reportedly hated him and once said "When I die, I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown in Jed Harris's face." Laurence Olivier, whom Harris had directed on Broadway in The Green Bay Tree (1933),

However despised he may have been in the theatrical community, Harris directed and produced actors including Leo G. Carroll, Laurence Olivier, Lillian Gish, Basil Rathbone, Elaine Stritch, Ruth Gordon, Walter Huston, Osgood Perkins and Katharine Hepburn. Moss Hart wrote that "every aspiring playwright's prayer was: 'Please God, let Jed Harris do my play!'" In an interview shortly before his death, Harris spoke of the ephemeral nature of the theatre. "The beauty of it is that you can create a whole world in a few weeks of rehearsal. But then the whole thing disappears like a breath of air. Nothing remains after your audience has gone. All it represents is a few moments of escape."

Harris was married three times: to Anita Green in 1925; to actress Louise Platt, with whom he had a daughter, in 1938; and to actress Bebe Allen briefly in 1957. All of the marriages ended in divorce. Platt accused him of abusing her during their marriage. Barbara Barondess recalled her immediate attraction to Harris in her memoirs. Although she was a virgin, she willingly submitted to him, and the two began a brief affair, casual on his part but passionate on hers. She realized she was not an important part of his life when she called him at the office and overheard his talking with Ruth Gordon on the phone. Unfortunately and unknown to her at the time, she was pregnant with his child. Barondess elected to undergo an illegal abortion without telling him about the baby. In 1929, actress Ruth Gordon was starring in Harris's production of Serena Blandish when she and Harris began a long romance. She became pregnant and their son, Jones Harris, was born in Paris later that year. Although they never married, Gordon and Harris provided their son with a normal upbringing, and his parentage became public knowledge as social conventions changed. In 1932, the family was living discreetly in a small, elegant New York City brownstone. Harris's other romances included Margaret Sullavan. The Theatrical Career of Jed Harris in New York, 1925 1956, at LSU completed in 1978. She assisted him in the last years of his life to finish his last book and complete the interviews with Dick Cavett. Harris recalled his life and career in five consecutive 30 minute episodes taped for The Dick Cavett Show, broadcast posthumously, and in an autobiography, Dance on the High Wire, published a week before his death. Harris died November 15, 1979, aged 79, at University Hospital in New York City after a long illness.

Date Title Role Notes October 13–November 1925 Weak Sisters Producer Booth Theatre, New York CityDirected by Lynn Starling February 3–June 1926 Love 'em and Leave 'em Producer Sam H. Harris Theatre, New York CityDirected by George Abbott September 16, 1926 – February 11, 1928 Broadway Producer Broadhurst Theatre, New York CityDirected by Philip Dunning and George AbbottSome ten duplicate productions in the U. S. and abroad supervised by Joseph Calleia April 4–June 1927 Spread Eagle Producer Martin Beck Theatre, New York CityDirected by George Abbott November 8, 1927–September 1928 Coquette Producer Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York CityDirected by George Abbott December 28, 1927–October 1928 The Royal Family Producer Selwyn Theatre, New York CityDirected by David Burton August 14, 1928 – April 13, 1929 The Front Page Producer Times Square Theater, New York CityDirected by George S. Kaufman January 23–April 1929 Serena Blandish Producer Morosco Theatre, New York City April 15–July 1930 Uncle Vanya Producer, director Cort Theatre, New York City September 22–October 1930 Uncle Vanya Producer, director Booth Theatre, New York City September 30–October 1930 Mr. Gilhooley Producer, director Broadhurst Theatre, New York City December 23–December 1930 The Inspector General Producer, director Hudson Theatre, New York City April 6–May 1931 The Wiser They Are Producer, director Plymouth Theatre, New York City October 22–November 1931 Wonder Boy Producer, director Alvin Theatre, New York City February 9–27, 1932 The Fatal Alibi Producer Booth Theatre, New York CityDirected by Charles Laughton October 20, 1933–March 1934 The Green Bay Tree Producer, director Cort Theatre, New York City December 26, 1933–February 1934 The Lake Producer, director Martin Beck Theatre, New York City September 20–September 1935 Life's Too Short Producer, director Broadhurst Theatre, New York City August 25–September 1936 Spring Dance Producer, director Empire Theatre, New York City December 27, 1937–May 1938 A Doll's House Producer, director Morosco Theatre, New York City February 4–November 19, 1938 Our Town Producer, director Henry Miller's Theatre through February 12Morosco Theatre from February 14 January 14–31, 1943 Dark Eyes Producer, director Belasco Theatre, New York City December 6–12, 1943 The World's Full of Girls Producer Royale Theatre, New York City February 8–March 10, 1945 One Man Show Producer, director Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City February 5–May 18, 1946 Apple of His Eye Producer, director Biltmore Theatre, New York City October 16–November 16, 1946 Loco Producer, director Biltmore Theatre, New York City September 29, 1947 – September 18, 1948 The Heiress Director Biltmore Theatre, New York City December 4, 1948 – March 12, 1949 Red Gloves Director Mansfield Theatre, New York City March 31–May 28, 1949 The Traitor Producer, director 48th Street Theatre, New York City January 22–July 11, 1953 The Crucible Director Martin Beck Theatre, New York CityTony Award for Best Play November 13–December 1, 1956 Child of Fortune Producer, director Royale Theatre, New York City

Jed Harris and screenwriter Tom Reed were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, for the 1954 film, Night People. Harris, Arthur Carter and Blake Edwards were nominated for a 1958 Writers Guild of America Award for the screenplay for Operation Mad Ball (1957). Harris was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.

The central character in Ben Hecht's 1931 novel A Jew in Love is modeled in part on Harris. John Houseman wrote "Ben Hecht in A Jew in Love has described the mixture of deadly cruelty and ineffable charm of which Harris was capable; when he really wanted something or somebody — and even when he did not — no effort was too great, no means too elaborate or circuitous if it helped to satisfy his craving for personal power." Laurence Olivier believed that the physical features of the Big Bad Wolf in Disney's 1933 animated film The Three Little Pigs were based on Harris, Harold Clurman agreed with Olivier: "That's Harris's face. I mean made into an animal There was venom in the man." Years later Olivier discovered that Walt Disney indeed had used Harris as his basis for the Big Bad Wolf. Alexander Korda, who had given Olivier his initial roles on film, provided financial support for The Three Little Pigs. One of the major characters in Ed Ifkovic's Downtown Strut: an Edna Ferber Mystery is Jed Harris, based on him as the director of the Broadway play The Royal Family .