 |
Joel Higgins | |
|---|---|
 Higgins in 1976 | |
| Born | Joel Franklin Higgins September 28, 1943 Bloomington, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Michigan State University |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse | Stacy Alberts (m. 1983) |
| Children | 1 |
Joel Franklin Higgins (born September 28, 1943) is an American actor [1] and singer with a stage career spanning over 50 years.
A graduate of Michigan State University where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity, [2] Higgins initially performed in coffeehouses to help pay his way through school. After leaving with a degree in advertising and working for six months for General Motors, Higgins went to Europe to perform.
In 1968, Higgins enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed at Camp Casey in Korea, serving as the Special Services Sergeant in charge of Entertainment. Following his Army days, he and several friends wrote a musical revue called The Green Apple Nasties. After leaving the Army, he sold the show to a producer and went on the road for two and a half years. During a performance in Louisville, Kentucky, Higgins was approached by a producer who asked him to play Sky Masterson in a regional theater production of Guys and Dolls . He went on a seventeen-week tour of the Midwest in the role.
In 1973, Higgins landed the role of Vince in the first national tour of Grease, where he toured for a year before leaving to join the pre-Broadway tryout of a new musical called Shenandoah . In 1975, he won the Theatre World Award for his role in the Broadway version of Shenandoah. In the same year, he began the role Bruce Carson in the CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow , and in the following year he returned to Broadway for Music Is . In 1978, Higgins was featured in the role of Ben Gant in the Broadway musical Angel . While the show only ran for five nights, Higgins received a Drama Desk Award nomination for his performance.
Higgins made the transition from daytime to primetime in 1979, with a starring role in the short-lived ABC television series Salvage 1 with Andy Griffith. Two years later, he starred in the ABC sitcom Best of the West [3] as United States Marshal Sam Best who, after returning from fighting in the American Civil War, uproots his family and moves them out west. ABC delayed renewing the series, and it was canceled after one season.
Higgins signed to star in a new NBC series, Silver Spoons , playing Edward W. Stratton III, the childlike son of one of the country's richest industrialists. In the show's opening, he learned he has a twelve-year-old son, played by Ricky Schroder, the product of his first marriage. The series ran from 1982 to 1987, the first four seasons airing on NBC and the fifth and final, in first-run syndication. [4]
Higgins returned to ABC in a new comedy, Have Faith , [3] in the spring of 1989, playing a church monsignor overseeing a madcap staff, co-stars of which included Ron Carey and Stephen Furst. The series did not fare well in the ratings, and expired after its short tryout run. He continued to guest star on numerous television series since that time. [3]
During the late 1970s and 1980s, he also appeared in several movies, including Bare Essence , [3] Threesome, [3] First Affair , and Killing at Hell's Gate. [3] He also continued to perform on stage, starring in the musicals She Loves Me at the Music Center in Los Angeles and Oklahoma! on Broadway, as well as writing over 200 jingles for products such as Kool-Aid, Kal Kan, M&M's, Coors Light and several theme songs including one for Lucille Ball's unsuccessful ABC comeback series, Life with Lucy . [5]
Higgins continued to perform throughout the 1990s and 2000s in several theaters around the country including The Muny in Forest Park, St. Louis (the largest and oldest outdoor theatre in America), The Starlight in Kansas City, The Fox in Atlanta, Cape Cod Playhouse, etc. He returned to Broadway in 1991–92 to star as "Stone/Stein" in City of Angels . [6]
All the while continuing to write, Higgins co-wrote and starred in The Fields of Ambrosia which debuted at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre on London's West End. He also co-wrote and directed Johnny Guitar , at the Century Center Theater For The Performing Arts in New York, garnering numerous Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nominations (including Best Lyrics, Music, and Musical) and winning the Outer Critics Circle Award as Best Musical of 2004. The Musical has had over 30 subsequent productions around the country. [5]
Higgins has continued to appear in films, such as Dead Canaries, and No Pay, Nudity . In 2017, he released an EP of original songs titled A World Away on CD Baby under his full name, Joel Franklin Higgins. [5]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975–78 | Search for Tomorrow | Bruce Carson #5 | Series regular |
| 1979 | Salvage 1 | Addison "Skip" Carmichael | Main cast, 19 episodes |
| 1981 | Killing at Hell's Gate | Jack Holmby | TV movie |
| 1981–82 | Best of the West | Marshal Sam Best | Main cast, 22 episodes |
| 1982–87 | Silver Spoons | Edward Stratton III | Main cast, 116 episodes |
| 1982 | Bare Essence | Matt Phillips | TV miniseries |
| 1983 | Insight | God | Episode: "The Day Everything Went Wrong" |
| 1983 | First Affair | Greg Simon | TV movie |
| 1984 | Threesome | Dan Shaper | TV movie |
| 1988 | Laura Lansing Slept Here | Walter Gomphers | TV movie |
| 1989 | Have Faith | Monsignor Joseph "Mac" MacKenzie | Main cast, 7 episodes |
| 1990 | Rich Men, Single Women | Nicky Loomis | TV movie |
| 1997 | Family Matters | Officer Geiss | Episode: "Who's Afraid of the Big Black Book?" |
| 1999 | Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place | Sharon's Father | Episode: "Two Guys, a Girl and Graduation" |
| 1999 | Home Improvement | Dr. Lloyd Fields | Episodes: "Love's Labor Lost: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2000 | JAG | Capt. Peter Tully | Episode: "Promises" |
| 2003 | Crossing Jordan | Mr. Oliver | Episode: "Pandora's Trunk: Part 1" |
| 2003 | Ed | Gus Tavel | Episode: "Death, Debt & Dating" |
| 2003 | Dead Canaries | Alan Weis | Feature film |
| 2015 | Dante and Beatrice: A Family Film | Father O'Malley | Short film |
| 2016 | No Pay, Nudity | Stewart | Feature film |
Joel Grey is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway and in Bob Fosse's 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2023.
John Cullum is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including Shenandoah (1975) and On the Twentieth Century (1978), winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each. In 1966 he gained his first Tony nomination as the lead in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, in which he introduced the title song, and more recently received Tony nominations for Urinetown The Musical (2002) and as Best Featured Actor in the revival of 110 in the Shade (2007).
Peter Frechette is an American actor. He is a stage actor with two Tony Award nominations for Eastern Standard and Our Country's Good, and frequently stars in the plays of Richard Greenberg. He is well known on TV for playing hacker George on the NBC series Profiler and Peter Montefiore on Thirtysomething. In film, he is known for playing T-Bird Louis DiMucci in the musical Grease 2.
Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.
Carolee Carmello is an American actress best known for her performances in Broadway musicals and for playing the role of Maple LaMarsh on the television series Remember WENN (1996–1998). She is a three-time Tony Award nominee and a five-time Drama Desk nominee, winning the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role in Parade.
Lucille Lortel was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for Tony Awards: As Is by William M. Hoffman, Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson, Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina!, and A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing. She also produced Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a production which ran for seven years and according to The New York Times "caused such a sensation that it...put Off-Broadway on the map."
Robert Cuccioli is an American actor and singer. He is best known for originating the lead dual title roles in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Fany Award for outstanding actor in a musical.
Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician. He is known primarily for his Broadway roles, including Shrek in Shrek the Musical, Nick Bottom in Something Rotten!, King George III in Hamilton, and The Baker in Into the Woods. He has received five Tony Award nominations for his work. On-screen, he is known for his recurring role as Andy Baker on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, Officer Krupke in West Side Story, and reporter Matt Carroll in Spotlight.
Michael Jerrod Moore, known professionally as Michael Arden, is an American actor, singer, musician, and theatre director. Arden won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2023 for the revival of the musical Parade.
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American actor. Considered one of Broadway's most prominent leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company and for his television role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he had a recurring role in Season 14 and was promoted to a series regular in Seasons 15 to 19.
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007.
Wade McCollum is an American film actor, stage actor and composer/musician.
Andy Karl is an American actor and singer. He is best known for performing in musical theatre specifically musicals adapted from successful movies. He has received several accolades including a Laurence Olivier Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for three Tony Awards. He is also known for playing Sgt. Mike Dodds on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2015 to 2016.
Kevin Cahoon is an American actor, director, writer, and singer-songwriter. In 2023, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Performance in a Musical for his performance in Shucked on Broadway.
Gerard Alessandrini is an American playwright, parodist, actor and theatre director best known for creating the award-winning off-Broadway musical theatre parody revue Forbidden Broadway. He is the recipient of Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, an Obie Award, four Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Lucille Lortel Awards, as well as the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
Jeff Calhoun is an American director, choreographer, producer and dancer.
Michael John Rupert is an American actor, singer, director and composer. In 1968, he made his Broadway debut in The Happy Time as Bibi Bonnard for which he received a Tony Award nomination and the Theater World Award. Later, he starred as the title role in Pippin for three years on Broadway starting in 1974. He originated the role of Marvin in the William Finn musicals March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland and Falsettos. In 2007, he originated the role of Professor Callahan in the Broadway cast of Legally Blonde. Rupert has been the nominee and recipient of several Tony and Drama Desk awards. He won a Tony for his performance in Sweet Charity in 1986.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director best known for his work on stage and television. He has received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Drama Desk Award, as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. Timbers received the Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the Jerome Robbins Award for Directing.
Fun Home is a musical theatre adaptation of Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name, with music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The story concerns Bechdel's discovery of her own lesbian sexuality, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. It is told in a series of non-linear vignettes connected by narration provided by the adult Alison character.
Erik Liberman is an American actor, author, and director.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
