Joseph Sirola, Broadway Actor and Tony-Winning Producer, Dead at 89 | Playbill

Obituaries Joseph Sirola, Broadway Actor and Tony-Winning Producer, Dead at 89 Sirola made his Broadway debut as Christmas Morgan in The Unsinkable Molly Brown prior to his work as a Tony-winning Broadway producer.
Joe Sirola Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Joe Sirola, whose career including starring roles on stage and screen, and a successful run as a Tony Award-winning producer on A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, has died. The cause of death was respiratory failure.

Sirola made his Broadway debut as Christmas Morgan in the 1960 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown. He followed that with Golden Rainbow, co-starring Steve and Eydie Gormé in 1968, and the 1976 Broadway revival of Pal Joey.

He was well known for his voiceover work and film and television roles, appearing opposite Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida in Strange Bedfellows (1965), as well as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Hang ‘Em High with Clint Eastwood (1968), and regular appearances on the soap opera The Brighter Day, The Andy Griffith Show, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Rhoda, and NYPD Blue.

In later years, Sirola translated his performing career into theatrical producing, winning a Tony Award as a producer on A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. His producing credits also included Time Stands Still, Stick Fly, The Trip to Bountiful, and the 2014 Broadway revival of Love Letters.

Joseph Sirola was born October 7, 1929, in Carteret, New Jersey. He is survived by his partner, Claire Gozzo; his daughter, Dawn; and granddaughters, Eva, Isabel, and Sofia.

 
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