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George W. George, Broadway Producer of '60s and '70s, Dies at 87
By Robert Simonson
12 Nov 2007
George W. George, who produced a string of Broadway productions in the 1960s and '70s, including the Tony Award-nominated Dylan and Bedroom Farce, died Nov. 7.
The 1964 drama Dylan, was Mr. George's Broadway debut. It starred Alec Guinness as the volatile Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Guinness won a Tony Award as Best Actor in a Play for his performance.
The year 1964 was a big one for the producer. Another George production, the comedy and Sandy Dennis vehicle Any Wednesday, opened a mere month after Dylan and proved a monster hit, running for more than two years. A musical, Ben Franklin in Paris, starring Robert Preston as the founding father, opened later that same year, but did less well, closing after 215 performances.
Hits were harder to come by after that. The Great Indoors (1966), Happily Never After (1966), Murderous Angels (1971), Night Watch (1972) and Via Galactica (1972) all flopped. A measure of success returned in 1979 with the eight-month stand of Alan Ayckborne's farce Bedroom Farce. It was Mr. George's last Broadway producing credit.
George W. George was born on February 20, 1920, in New York. His father was Rube Goldberg, the illustrator famous for his drawings of ridiculously complicated machines designed to perform simple tasks. He began his career in film as a screenwriter, writing his first script "Bodyguard" with director Robert Altman. Other film scripts included "Thunder Bay," "Red Mountain" and "Peggy." He also wrote episodes for the television series "Bonanza," "My Friend Flicka," "Peter Gunn," "The Rifleman," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," and "Combat!" His film producing credits included the theatre-centered classic "My Dinner with Andre," featuring acclaimed theater director Andre Gregory and playwright-actor Wallace Shawn.
He was predeceased by wife Judy George in 2006, and is survived by his daughter, Jennifer. Funeral services will be at 11:30 AM on Nov. 13 at the Frank E. Campbell The Funeral Chapel in Manhattan.
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