Joshua Logan | |
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| Born | Joshua Lockwood Logan III (1908-10-05)October 5, 1908 Texarkana, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 1988(1988-07-12) (aged 79) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Princeton University |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1932–1987 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2[1] |
Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an Americantheatre andfilm director,playwright andscreenwriter, and actor. He shared aPulitzer Prize for co-writing the musicalSouth Pacific and was involved in writing other musicals.
Logan was born inTexarkana,Texas, the son of Susan (née Nabors) and Joshua Lockwood Logan.[2] When he was three years old, his father committed suicide. Logan, his mother, and his younger sister, Mary Lee, then moved to his maternal grandparents' home inMansfield, Louisiana, which Logan used 40 years later as the setting for his playThe Wisteria Trees. Logan's mother remarried six years after his father's death and he then attendedCulver Military Academy inCulver,Indiana, where his stepfather served on the staff as a teacher. At school, he experienced his first drama class and felt at home. After his high school graduation he attendedPrinceton University, here he was active in the Triangle Club, the university’s venerable musical theatre troupe.[3] Moreover, he was involved with the intercollegiate summer stock company, known as theUniversity Players, with fellow studentJames Stewart and also non-studentsHenry Fonda andMargaret Sullavan. During his senior year, he served as president of thePrinceton Triangle Club. Before his graduation, he won a scholarship to travel to Moscow to observe the rehearsals ofKonstantin Stanislavski, and Logan left school without a diploma.
Logan began his Broadway career as an actor inCarry Nation in 1932. He was also inI Was Waiting for You (1933).
He then spent time in London, where he staged two productions and directed a touring revival ofCamille. He also worked as an assistant stage manager.
Back on Broadway he stagedIt's You I Want (1935) andTo See Ourselves (1935) and was stage manager forMost of the Game (1935). He stagedHell Freezes Over (1935–36) and returned to acting withA Room in Red and White (1936).
He went to Hollywood where he did some dialogue directing onThe Garden of Allah (1936),History Is Made at Night (1937), andSuez (1938). Logan was given the chance to co-direct the feature filmI Met My Love Again (1938) forWalter Wanger.
Logan returned to Broadway where he had his first major success as a director with Paul Osborn'sOn Borrowed Time (1938), which ran for 321 performances. He followed it with the musicalI Married an Angel (1938–39), which ran for 331 performances.
He directedKnickerbocker Holiday (1938),Stars in Your Eyes (1939), Osborn'sMorning's at Seven (1939–40),Two For the Show (1940), andHigher and Higher (1940, 84 performances). None of these was a break-out success but his revival ofCharley's Aunt (1940–41) went for 233 performances, and theHart-Rodgers musicalBy Jupiter (1942–43) withRay Bolger went for 427 performances.
In 1942, Logan was drafted by theU.S. Army. During his service inWorld War II, he acted as apublic-relations andintelligence officer. Logan was selected to become anassistant director ofIrving Berlin'sThis Is the Army and when in Europe organized "jeep shows" of entertainers serving as soldiers doing their shows near the front lines.[4]
When the war concluded, he was discharged with the rank ofcaptain and returned toBroadway. He married his second wife, actressNedda Harrigan, in 1945; Logan's previous marriage, to actressBarbara O'Neil, a colleague of his at theUniversity Players in the 1930s, had ended in divorce.
Logan's directing career resumed with the musicalAnnie Get Your Gun (1946–49), which ran for 1,147 performances.
He followed it withAnita Loos'Happy Birthday (1948, 563 performances), andNorman Krasna'sJohn Loves Mary (1948–49, 423 performances). Logan's golden run continued withMister Roberts (1948–1951) which he co-wrote as well as directed; it ran for 1157 performances and earned him a Tony Award.
Then he directed and co-wroteSouth Pacific (1949–54), which went for 1,925 performances. Logan shared the 1950Pulitzer Prize for Drama withRichard Rodgers andOscar Hammerstein II for co-writingSouth Pacific. The show earned him aTony Award for Best Director. Despite his contributions to the musical,The New York Times originally omitted his name as co-author, and the Pulitzer Prize committee initially awarded the prize to only Rodgers and Hammerstein. Although the mistakes were corrected, Logan wrote in his autobiography: "I knew then why people fight so hard to have their names in proper type. It's not just ego or 'the principle of the thing,' it's possibly another job or a better salary. It's reassurance. My name had been so minimized that I lived through years of having people praiseSouth Pacific in my presence without knowing I had had anything to do with it."
Logan wrote, produced and directedThe Wisteria Tree (1950), an adaptation ofThe Cherry Orchard, which was a minor success.
Logan cowrote, coproduced, and directed the 1952 musicalWish You Were Here. After the show was not initially successful, Logan quickly wrote 54 new pages of material, and by the ninth performance, the show looked new. In its fourth week of release, the show sold out, and continued to offer sell-out performances for the next two years.
He had another success withPicnic (1953–1954), the play byWilliam Inge, which went for 477 performances. Krasna'sKind Sir (1953–54) lasted 166 performances, andFanny (1953–1954) which Logan co-wrote, co-produced and directed, ran 888 performances.
When directorJohn Ford became sick, Logan reluctantly returned to Hollywood to complete the filming ofMister Roberts (1955). It was a success commercially and critically.
Logan directed the film adaptation of his ownPicnic (1955), for which Logan received an Oscar nomination.Bus Stop (1956) withMarilyn Monroe, his next movie, was another hit.
Logan returned to Broadway, directingMiddle of the Night byPaddy Chayefsky, which ran 477 performances.
He visited Japan to directMarlon Brando inSayonara (1957), which earned him a second Oscar nomination for Best Director. He did the movie version ofSouth Pacific (1958).
Logan went back to Broadway and directedBlue Denim (1958, 166 performances) and the hugely popularThe World of Suzie Wong (1958–1960, 508 performances). He producedEpitaph for George Dillon (1958).
Logan returned to Hollywood withTall Story (1960), which introducedJane Fonda to movie audiences. Back on Broadway, he directedThere Was a Little Girl (1960), his first theatre flop in some years, running for only 16 performances. In Hollywood he did the movie adaptation ofFanny (1961).
In 1961, he was a member of the jury at the2nd Moscow International Film Festival.[5]
Logan continued to alternate Broadway and Hollywood for the rest of the 1960s. He did the Broadway musicalsAll American (1962, 86 performances) andMr. President (1962–1963, 265 performances), andTiger, Tiger Burning Bright (1962–1963, 33 performances), then made the filmEnsign Pulver (1964).
AfterReady When You Are, C.B.! (1964–1965, 80 performances), he did the movies ofLerner and Loewe'sCamelot (1967) andPaint Your Wagon (1969). Back on Broadway, he didLook to the Lilies (1970, 31 performances).
Logan's 1976 autobiographyJosh: My Up-and-Down, In-and-Out Life gives a frank account of hisbipolar disorder. He appeared with his wife in the 1977 nightclub revueMusical Moments, featuring Logan's most popular Broadway numbers. He publishedMovie Stars, Real People, and Me in 1978.
In 1979, he producedLarry Cohen'sTrick on Broadway. He directedHorowitz and Mrs. Washington (1980), which ran for six performances.
From 1983 to 1986, he taught theater at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. He was also responsible for bringingCarol Channing to Broadway inLend an Ear!.
Logan experienced mood fluctuations for many years, which in the 1970s psychiatristRonald R. Fieve treated withlithium, and the two appeared on TV talk shows extolling its virtues.[6]
Logan was married briefly (1939–1940) to actressBarbara O'Neil. After the couple divorced, he was married toNedda Harrigan from 1945 until his death fromprogressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in New York City in 1988; they had a daughter, Susan Harrigan Logan, and a son, Thomas Heggen Logan.[1]
In 2019,Jane Fonda, who starred in Logan's 1960 filmTall Story, claimed both she and Logan were in love with lead actorAnthony Perkins at the time of filming, causing tension during an already difficult shoot.[7][8]
