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Julian Barry, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic “Lenny” starring Dustin Hoffman, has died at the age of 92, his daughter announced to The New York Times.

Born in the Bronx and a graduate of Syracuse, Barry got his start in showbiz on Broadway as an actor and stage manager, most notably in Orson Welles’ 1955 production of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”

In 1969, Columbia Pictures approached Barry about writing a biopic about the life of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce, who had died of a morphine overdose three years prior. Bruce accepted, but the project fell through as Columbia fast-tracked other projects.

Not wanting to give up on the script, Barry repurposed it as a stage play and brought it to Broadway in 1971 with “Hair” director Tom O’Horgan and with Cliff Gorman as Lenny Bruce. The play “Lenny” was a success, with Gorman winning a Tony Award for for his performance.

With “Lenny” now on the map,...

Julian Barry, whose 1971 Broadway play and 1974 movie, both titled Lenny and telling the story of legendary comic Lenny Bruce, died Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 92.

His death was reported to The New York Times by his daughter Julia Barry, who said he died in his sleep and had been under medical care for congestive heart failure and late-stage kidney disease.

Although most widely known for his highly influential Bruce projects, which earned considerable acclaim for the writer and his title stars — Cliff Gorman on stage, Dustin Hoffman on screen — Barry’s career extended to other projects that caught the public’s attention in their day. He wrote Rhinoceros, the 1974 film adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s play starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, a movie that has grown somewhat in esteem since its initial critical dismissal, and the 1978 Faye Dunaway vehicle Eyes of Laura Mars, which has not.

James Rado, who along with his friend and writing partner Gerome Ragni created Broadway’s seminal Age of Aquarius musical Hair, died peacefully Tuesday evening of cardio respiratory arrest in New York City, surrounded by family. He was 90.

His death was announced by his longtime friend, publicist Merle Frimark.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Rado and Ragni, who died in 1991, wrote the book and lyrics to the landmark musical (full title: Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical), with music composed by Galt MacDermot, who died in 2018. In addition to its hugely influential insertion of a ’60s counterculture sensibility into Broadway’s mainstream, the musical contributed a score of songs that would become radio hits (often in cover versions) and stage musical standards: “Aquarius,” “Let The Sunshine In,” “Hair,” “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Easy To Be Hard,” among others.

In addition to co-creating the musical,...

Tom O'Horgan's controversial 1971 Broadway musical Inner City, originally produced by Harvey Milk,will be presented in concert tonight,August 17th, at Feinstein's54 Below, with shows at 700pm and 930pm.

Energetic founder of the pioneering experimental theatre club La MaMa

The major impetus and example for much of our first fringe and alternative theatre 50 years ago came from New York, specifically a small group of off-off-Broadway and Greenwich Village cafe theatres where Ellen Stewart, who has died aged 91, reigned supreme as the founder and artistic director of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.

Although never renowned as an actor or director herself (she took to directing in later life), Stewart generated creative energy and excitement in others, incontrovertible proof that theatre can only thrive given the right circumstances or opportunities.

She considered her artists as her family and, in the earliest days, kept them in clothes from her work as a designer. Many actors slept in her apartment or in the theatre itself. In British terms, she was the Lower East Side's Lilian Baylis, with elements of Sybil Thorndike and Thelma Holt.

New York theatre icon Ellen Stewart has died, aged 91.

Stewart, who founded the award-winning LAMAMa Experimental Theater Club, died of natural causes on Thursday.

Founded in 1961, the theatre gave early opportunities to acting greats such as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

During her 50 years as a director and producer of LAMAMa, Stewart collaborated with other artists including Sam Shepard, Bette Midler, Tom O'Horgan and more.

And she was the first off-Broadway producer to be inducted into the Broadway Theatre Hall of Fame in 1993.

Stewart is survived by her adopted son, Duk Hyung Yoo, and eight grandchildren.

Ellen Stewart, founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and one of the pioneers of the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement, died on Jan. 12. She was 91.Stewart nurtured the careers of many influential theater figures, often giving them their first exposure, including directors Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Tom O'Horgan, and Joseph Chaikin; actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein; playwrights Sam Shepard, Charles Ludlam, Adrienne Kennedy, Taylor Mac, Lanford Wilson, and Israel Horovitz; composers Philip Glass, Elizabeth Swados, Meredith Monk, and Stephen Schwartz; and theater troupes Mabou Mines and the Talking Band. She also introduced American audiences to such European directors as Jerzy Grotowski and Andrei Serban.Stewart came to New York in the 1950s to become a fashion designer and founded La MaMa in 1961. More than 2,000 productions later, the theater, which is located at 74A E. Fourth St. in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, is still going strong. During the theater's infancy, Stewart funded it with her earnings from dress designing.

The man behind the Broadway revival of Hair has been accused of snubbing the director who first made it a hit.

The hippy-themed production returned to the New York stage last month - 41 years it debuted, directed by Tom O'Horgan.

Hair co-author James Rado is behind the new version, but he has been accused of ignoring O'Horgan, who died in January.

New York theatre boss Ellen Stewart says, "O'Horgan has had his name erased from history. There is no mention anymore that Hair was all O'Horgan. He had groundbreaking onstage nudity. He gave us the attitude to do what we please. He instituted modern theatre.

"Every opportunity Rado has had, he has tried to erase everything Tom had to do with Hair. It started with the (1979) film; they didn't let Tom direct it. They are now on Broadway and there is no mention of Tom. It's like this great genius of a man didn't exist. He changed the very look of theatre and gave society a freedom."

But Rado has defended the new production, and insists O'Horgan is credited in the play's programme.

He tells the New York Post, "Tom's original production of Hair was absolutely wonderful. This version of Hair is a new staging, and offers a fresh artistic vision. It is the authors' prerogative and freedom of expression to do this with one's own show."...

The revival of Broadway's "Hair" is being sheared by charges its co-author James Rado has turned his back on the visionary who made the famed hippie musical a smash hit.

At an East Village memorial for Tom O'Horgan -- who directed the original 1968 production and died in January -- Ellen Stewart, founder of the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, drew wild applause as she claimed Rado, who wrote the book and lyrics with Gerome Ragni, has ignored O'Horgan in the latest incarnation.

"O'Horgan has had his name erased from history,...

American director Tom O'Horgan, who created hit hippie musical Hair has died, aged 84.

O'Horgan, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died on Sunday at his home in Venice, Florida. No cause of death has been given.

In addition to the 1968 musical, which was transformed from a mild success to a Broadway smash in 1971, O'Horgan's other Broadway plays included Jesus Christ Superstar, Lenny and Inner City.

But it was Hair that earned him a Tony Award nomination in 1969 for Best Direction of a Musical.

The musical remains such a success, a new Broadway production of the show is scheduled to open on 31 March.

O'Horgan's physical approach to direction is often attributed to his talents as a composer, singer, actor and musician, having helmed productions at La Mama Experimental Theater Club, including Futz! Tom Paine, and The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria, earlier in his career.

He is also credited with discovering or helping to discover actors Frederic Forrest, Ben Vereen and Ron Perlman.

His work was honoured with three Drama Desk Awards for his Off Broadway direction; he was also named theatrical director of the year by Newsweek in 1968.

O'Horgan left no immediate survivors.