Never Too Late (play)

Last updated
Never Too Late
Written by Sumner Arthur Long
CharactersHarry Lambert
Edith Lambert
Kate Clinton
Charlie Clinton
Grace Kimbrough
James Kimbrough
Date premiered27 November 1962
Place premieredPlayhouse Theatre
Original language English
Genre Comedy
SettingThe living room of the Lambert home in Calverton, Massachusetts.

Never Too Late is a 1962 Broadway play by Sumner Arthur Long.

Contents

Never Too Late starred Paul Ford and Maureen O'Sullivan as Harry and Edith Lambert, a middle-aged couple about to become parents once again. Starring as the couple's adult daughter Kate and her husband Charlie Clinton were Fran Sharon and Orson Bean, as well as Leona Maricle and House Jameson as Grace and James Kimbrough.

Production

Never Too Late originally opened at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City on November 27, 1962. The play, directed by George Abbott and produced by Elliot Martin and Daniel Hollywood, ran for a total of 1,007 performances until its end on April 24, 1965.

In his book on Broadway The Season, William Goldman gave the play's success as an example of a freak success that can happen due to good reviews. "Paul Ford has been Paul Ford for a million years, always the same, always wonderful. But on the night that Never Too Late opened, the critics decided not to give the usual Paul Ford notice: “Mr. Ford struggles nobly with his material, but it is a losing battle.” That night it’s hats in the air and a 1,000-performance run and fortunes for everybody. There is simply no conceivable way of knowing when this contagion will strike the boys on the aisle. But one of the reasons that so many inconceivable plays get to Broadway is that when they're dying out of town they dream of the Never Too Lates and come on in." [1]

Film

A film version based on the play was released in November 1965 with Ford and O’Sullivan reprising their Broadway roles. [2]

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

YearAward ceremonyCategoryNomineeResult
1963 Tony Award Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play Paul Ford Nominated
Best Direction of a Play George Abbott Nominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Bakula</span> American actor (born 1954)

Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor. He is known for his roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap – for which he was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards – and as Captain Jonathan Archer on Star Trek: Enterprise. From 2014 to 2021, he portrayed Special Agent Dwayne Cassius "King" Pride on NCIS: New Orleans.

<i>Our Town</i> 1938 three-act play by Thornton Wilder

Our Town is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basil Rathbone</span> English actor (1892–1967)

Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC was an Anglo-South African actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Bracken</span> American actor (1915–2002)

Edward Vincent Bracken was an American actor. Bracken came to Hollywood prominence for his comedic lead performances in the films Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek both from 1944, both of which have been preserved by the National Film Registry. During this era, he also had success on Broadway, with performances in plays like Too Many Girls (1940).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Robertson</span> American actor (1923–2011)

Clifford Parker Robertson III was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film Charly.

<i>The Odd Couple</i> (play) 1965 stage play by Neil Simon

The Odd Couple is a play by Neil Simon. Following its premiere on Broadway in 1965, the characters were revived in a successful 1968 film and 1970s television series, as well as several other derivative works and spin-offs. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates: the neat, uptight Felix Ungar and the slovenly, easygoing Oscar Madison. Simon adapted the play in 1985 to feature a pair of female roommates in The Female Odd Couple. An updated version of the 1965 show appeared in 2002 with the title Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliott Gould</span> American actor (born 1938)

Elliott Gould is an American actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Jones (actor)</span> American actor (1931–2015)

Dean Carroll Jones was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Agent Zeke Kelso in That Darn Cat! (1965), Jim Douglas in the Herbie franchise (1969–1997), and Dr. Herman Varnick in Beethoven (1992). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance as Albert Dooley in The Million Dollar Duck (1971). In 1995, he was inducted as a Disney Legend for his film work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurd Hatfield</span> American actor

William Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American actor. He is best known for having played characters of handsome, narcissistic young men, most notably Dorian Gray in the film The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ford</span> American character actor (1901–1976)

Paul Ford Weaver was an American character actor and comedic actor who came to specialize in portraying authority figures whose ineptitude and pompous demeanor were played for comic effect, notably as Mayor George Shinn in the 1957 Broadway musical comedy play, followed five years later by repeating in the feature film version The Music Man (1962),, and on television as U.S. Army Colonel John T. Hall on several seasons of the military comedy The Phil Silvers Show (1955–1959).

<i>George M!</i> Musical about George M. Cohan

George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were by George M. Cohan himself, with revisions for the musical by Cohan's daughter, Mary Cohan.

<i>Mornings at Seven</i>

Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.

<i>A Family Affair</i> (musical) 1962 musical by James and William Goldman, John Kander

A Family Affair is a musical with a book by James Goldman and William Goldman, lyrics by James Goldman and John Kander, and music by Kander. This was Kander's first show and his only one written without Fred Ebb in Ebb's lifetime.

Staircase is a two-character play by Charles Dyer about an ageing gay couple who own a barber shop in the East End of London. One of them is a part-time actor about to go on trial for propositioning a police officer. The action takes place over the course of one night as they discuss their loving but often volatile past together and possible future without each other.

Johnny No-Trump is a 1967 play written by Mary Mercier which ran for one performance on Broadway.

<i>Never Too Late</i> (1965 film) 1965 film by Bud Yorkin

Never Too Late is a 1965 comedic feature film directed by Bud Yorkin and produced by Norman Lear. It stars 54-year-old Maureen O'Sullivan as the wife of a businessman who discovers, after 25 years of marriage, that she is to become a mother for the second time. Adding to the complications is the fact that their married daughter and her husband live with them.

The Ninety Day Mistress is a 1967 sex comedy play. The original production starred Walter Abel, Martin Milner and Dyan Cannon and ran for 24 performances.

Daphne in Cottage D is a 1967 play written by Stephen Levi. The play premiered on Broadway on October 15, 1967 after previews from October 9, 1967, and closed on November 18, 1967 after 41 performances, losing over $100,000. The play starred Sandy Dennis and William Daniels, and was directed by Martin Fried.

Two for the Seesaw is a three-act, two-person play written by William Gibson. The play opened on Broadway on January 16, 1958, at the Booth Theatre in New York and ran for 750 performances, closing on October 31, 1959. With the opening cast of Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft, the play was directed by Arthur Penn and produced by Fred Coe. A surprise hit, Two for the Seesaw earned Anne Bancroft, making her Broadway debut, her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. The play was adapted into a film of the same name in 1962, directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine, and was later adapted into the musical Seesaw in 1973. The play marked the Broadway debut of writer William Gibson, who would later collaborate with Penn and Coe on the play and film adaptations of The Miracle Worker, which also featured Bancroft in the lead role.

Any Wednesday is a 1964 American stage play by Muriel Resnik. It ran for 983 performances from 1964 to 1966, making it one of the most successful comedies on Broadway in the 1960s, and was turned into a feature film of the same name in 1966.

References

  1. Goldman, William (1969). The Season. Harcourt, brace & world. pp. 255–256.
  2. Never Too Late tcm.com