José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón[1] (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was aPuerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemedHispanic American actors—or, indeed, actors of any ethnicity—during his lifetime and after, with a career spanning nearly 60 years between 1935 and 1992. He achieved prominence for his portrayal ofCyrano de Bergerac in theplay of the same name, which earned him the inauguralTony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1947. He reprised the role in a1950 film version and won anAcademy Award for Best Actor, making him both the first Hispanic and the first Puerto Rican–born actor to win anAcademy Award.
Ferrer was born inSan Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Rafael Ferrer, a local attorney and writer, and María Providencia Cintrón, ofYabucoa. His parents were both of Spanish descent. He was the grandson of Gabriel Ferrer Hernández, a doctor and advocate ofPuerto Rican independence fromSpain. He had two younger sisters, Elvira and Leticia.[3]
The family moved to New York in 1914, when Ferrer was two years old. He studied at theSwiss boarding schoolInstitut Le Rosey.[4] He was adept in several languages, including Spanish, English, French, and Italian.
Ferrer's first professional appearance as an actor was at a "showboat" theater on Long Island in the summer of 1934.
In 1935, Ferrer was the stage manager at the Suffern Country Playhouse, operated byJoshua Logan, whom Ferrer had known at Princeton.Ruth Gordon andHelen Hayes recommended him toJed Harris.
He could also be seen inStick-in-the-Mud (1935) andSpring Dance (1936). Ferrer's first big success was inBrother Rat (1936–38) which ran for 577 performances.In Clover only ran for three performances.How to Get Tough About It (1938) also had a short run, as didMissouri Legend (1938).
Mamba's Daughters (1939) ran for 163 performances. Ferrer followed it withKey Largo (1939–40) withPaul Muni and directed byGuthrie McClintic, which went for 105 shows and was later turned into a film.
Ferrer had a huge personal success in the title role ofCharley's Aunt (1940–41), partly indrag, under the direction ofJoshua Logan. It went for 233 performances.
Ferrer made his debut on Broadway as director withVickie (1942) in which he also starred. It only had a short run.
He playedIago inMargaret Webster's Broadway production ofOthello (1943–44), which starredPaul Robeson in thetitle role, Webster asEmilia, and Ferrer's wife,Uta Hagen, asDesdemona. That production still holds the record for longest-running repeat performance of aShakespearean play presented in the United States, going for 296 performances (it would be revived in 1945).
Ferrer produced and directed, but did not appear in,Strange Fruit (1945–46), starringMel Ferrer (no relation).
Among other radio roles, Ferrer starred as detectivePhilo Vance in a 1945 series of the same name.[6]
Ferrer in costume in an unnamed play at Maple Leaf Gardens
Ferrer may be best remembered for his performance in the title role ofCyrano de Bergerac, which he first played onBroadway in 1946. Ferrer feared that the production would be a failure in rehearsals, due to the open dislike for the play by directorMel Ferrer (no relation), so he called inJoshua Logan (who had directed his star-making performance inCharley's Aunt) to serve as "play doctor" for the production. Logan wrote that he simply had to eliminate pieces of business which director Ferrer had inserted in his staging; they presumably were intended to sabotage the more sentimental elements of the play that the director considered to be corny and in bad taste.[7] The production became one of the hits of the 1946/47 Broadway season, winning Ferrer the first Best ActorTony Award for his depiction of the long-nosed poet/swordsman.
On January 9, 1949, Ferrer made his television debut when he starred inThe Philco Television Playhouse's one-hour adaptation of the play.[8]
Ferrer directed, but did not appear in,As We Forgive Our Debtors (1947), which ran 5 performances. There was another short run forVolpone (1947) which Ferrer adapted and played the title role.[9]
Ferrer made his film debut in the Technicolor epicJoan of Arc (1948) as the weak-willed Dauphin oppositeIngrid Bergman as Joan. Ferrer's performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
At theCity Center, he acted in revivals ofAngel Street (1948) andThe Alchemist (1948) and directedS. S. Glencairn (1948) andThe Insect Comedy (1948) (also appearing in the latter).[10]
Ferrer then played the title role inCyrano de Bergerac (1950), directed byMichael Gordon and produced byStanley Kramer. Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar, becoming the first actor to win the Oscar for the same role which won him the Tony. The film was widely seen although it lost money.[12] Ferrer donated the Oscar to the University of Puerto Rico, and it was subsequently stolen in 2000.[13]
Ferrer returned to Broadway for a revival ofTwentieth Century (1950–51) which he directed and starred in, oppositeGloria Swanson; it went for 233 performances. Immediately following, he produced and directed, but did not appear in,Stalag 17 (1951–52), a big hit running for 472 performances. Even more popular wasThe Fourposter (1951–53) in which he directedHume Cronyn andJessica Tandy; it ran for 632 performances.
Ferrer returned to cinema screens in the comedyAnything Can Happen (1952), directed byGeorge Seaton, where Ferrer played an immigrant.
More popular wasMoulin Rouge (1952) in which Ferrer played the role ofToulouse-Lautrec underJohn Huston's direction.[14] Ferrer received 40% of the profits[15] as well as his third and final Oscar nomination.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer directed and starred inThe Shrike (1952), which ran for 161 performances.[16]
His next two shows were as director only:Horton Foote'sThe Chase (1952) only had a short run butMy Three Angels (1953–54), went for 344 performances.[17]
Ferrer had another cinema hit withMiss Sadie Thompson (1953) starringRita Hayworth.[18] Ferrer briefly revived some of his shows at the City Centre in 1953: Cyrano,The Shrike,Richard III,Charley's Aunt.[19]
Ferrer as Lieutenant Barney Greenwald inThe Caine Mutiny, released in 1954
He returned to films withThe Caine Mutiny (1954) for Kramer, co-starring withHumphrey Bogart andVan Johnson, playing defense lawyer Barney Greenwald; the film was a huge hit.[20] Greenwald'sJewish faith, so prominent in the novel that it informed his judgments of the U.S.S.Caine's officers, was downplayed in the film, as Ferrer, being Puerto Rican, was nominallyRoman Catholic.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer co-wrote and directed the stage musicalOh, Captain! (1958) withTony Randall, which only had a short run. He directed and starred inEdwin Booth (1958), playing the title role; it was not a success.
Ferrer took over the direction of the troubled musicalJuno (1959) fromVincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over fromTony Richardson. The show, which starredShirley Booth, folded after 16 performances and mixed to extremely negative critical reaction.
However, he followed it directing the original stage production ofSaul Levitt'sThe Andersonville Trial (1959–60), about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamousCivil War prison. It was a hit and featuredGeorge C. Scott, running for 179 performances.
Ferrer had a key support role in the filmLawrence of Arabia (1962) which was a huge success. Although Ferrer's performance was only small he said it was his best on screen.
A notable performance of his later stage career was asMiguel de Cervantes and his fictional creationDon Quixote in the hit musicalMan of La Mancha. Ferrer took over the role fromRichard Kiley in 1966 and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show. Tony Martinez continued in the role ofSancho Panza under Ferrer, as he had with Kiley.
Ferrer starred inCarl Reiner'sEnter Laughing (1967) and did a production ofKismet (1967) on TV. He went to Europe to doCervantes (1967) and appeared inA Case of Libel (1968) for US TV. He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed in the 1968Rankin/Bass Christmas TV specialThe Little Drummer Boy. In 1968 the IRS sent him a tax bill of $122,000 going back to 1962.[28]
Around 1973, he narratedA Touch of Royalty, a documentary on the life and death ofPuerto Rico'sbaseball starRoberto Clemente. Ferrer voiced both versions, Spanish and English.
Ferrer voiced a highly truncated cartoon version ofCyrano for an episode ofThe ABC Afterschool Special in 1974.
During the Bicentennial, Ferrer narrated the world premiere ofMichael Jeffrey Shapiro'sA Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and orchestra with Martin Rich leading the Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester.
Ferrer was a replacement cast member in a production ofDavid Mamet'sA Life in the Theatre (1977–78). He produced and starred inWhite Pelicans (1978) and directedCarmelina (1979) on stage but it only ran 17 performances.
Ferrer made his farewell to Cyrano by performing a short passage from the play for the1986 Tony Awards telecast.
Although not the original actor to play the character, Ferrer, beginning in the third season, had a recurring role asJulia Duffy'sWASPy father in the long-running television seriesNewhart in the 1980s.
In an interview given in the 1980s, he bemoaned the lack of good character parts for aging stars, and admitted that he now took on roles mostly for the money, such as his roles in the horror potboilersThe Swarm, in which he played a doctor, andDracula's Dog, in which he played a police inspector.
Ferrer was honored for his theatrical and cinematic works with an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and a National Medal of Arts, becoming the first actor and Hispanic to be presented with the prestigious award.
Ferrer's sons Rafael Ferrer andMiguel Ferrer, his daughter (Letty Ferrer), and his granddaughterTessa Ferrer also became actors and actresses.
Ferrer donated his Academy Award to theUniversity of Puerto Rico. The award was stolen after being misplaced during the remodeling of the university's theater.
Ferrer was married five times and had six children:
Uta Hagen (1938–1948): Ferrer and Hagen met while playing summer stock inRidgefield, Connecticut in 1938.[33] They had one child, Leticia (born October 15, 1940). They divorced in 1948, partly due to Hagen's long-concealed affair withPaul Robeson, with whom Hagen and Ferrer had co-starred in the Broadway production ofOthello.[34]
Phyllis Hill (1948–1953): Ferrer and Hill wed on May 27, 1948, and they moved toBurlington, Vermont in 1950. Ferrer returned to Puerto Rico because his mother died. They divorced on January 12, 1953.
Rosemary Clooney (1953–1961): Ferrer first married Clooney on July 13, 1953, inDurant, Oklahoma.[35] They moved toSanta Monica, California, in 1954, and then toLos Angeles in 1958. Ferrer and Clooney had five children in quick succession:Miguel (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017), Maria (born August 9, 1956), Gabriel (born August 1, 1957), Monsita (born October 13, 1958) and Rafael (born March 23, 1960). They divorced for the first time in 1961.
Rosemary Clooney (1964–1967): Ferrer and Clooney remarried on November 22, 1964, in Los Angeles; however, the marriage again crumbled because Ferrer was carrying on an affair with the woman who would become his last wife, Stella Magee. Clooney found out about the affair, and she and Ferrer divorced again in 1967.
Stella Magee (1977–1992): They remained together until his death in 1992.
Replacement forRichard Kiley on Broadway, May 28 – June 9, 1966 National Tour Sep 24, 1966 – Apr 09, 1967 Replacement forDavid Atkinson on Broadway, April 11 – July 13, 1967 Replacement for Richard Kiley on National Tour July 15 – August 7, 1967 Replacement for Richard Kiley on National Tour September 23, 1968 – September 13, 1969
^ab"Stage, Film Actor Jose Ferrer Dies".Los Angeles Times 27 January 1992: VYA3
^Spector, Susan (1982).Uta Hagen. The Early Years: 1919-1951. Dissertation. New York University. p. 121.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)