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Joseph Beruh Biography (1924-1989)

Born September 27, 1924, in Pittsburgh, PA; died of a heart attack, October 30, 1989, in New York, NY; son of William Israel (a dry cleaner) and Clara (Parnes) Beruh; married Kathleen Murray (an actress), 1955 (died, August 1969);children: David Marshall and William Israel.

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Birth Details

September 27, 1924

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Death Details

October 30, 1989

New York, New York, United States

Famous Works

• Credits; STAGE APPEARANCES
• STAGE DEBUT--Teddy Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace, Rabbit Run Theatre, Madison, OH, 1946.
• OFF-BROADWAY DEBUT--Friend Ed, Burning Bright, Loft Players, Circle in the Square, 1951.
• Crookfinger Jake, The Threepenny Opera, Theatre De Lys, New York City, 1954.
• prison guard, drugstore clerk, waiter, and Danny Mines, Compulsion, Ambassador Theatre, New York City, 1957.
• Credits; STAGE WORK
• Director, Missouri Legend, The Male Animal, Harvey, Peg o' My Heart, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Hasty Heart, Of Mice and Men, and Born Yesterday, all Grand Teton National Theatre, Jackson Hole, WY, 1953.
• director, A Sound of Hunting, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, 1953.
• stage manager, Compulsion, Ambassador Theatre, New York City, 1957.
• producer (with Peter Kent), Leave It to Jane, Sheridan Square Playhouse,New York City, 1959.
• general manager, The Goose, Sullivan Street Playhouse, New York City, 1960.
• producer (with Lawrence Carra), Kittiwake Island, Martinique Theatre, NewYork City, 1960.
• general manager, Elsa Lanchester--Herself, 41st Street Theatre, New YorkCity, 1961.
• director, The Seven at Dawn and general manager, Cockeyed Kite, both Actors Playhouse, New York City, 1961.
• general manager, Hi, Paisano!, York Playhouse, New York City, 1961.
• general manager, The Long Voyage Home and Diff'rent (double-bill), Mermaid Theatre, New York City, 1961.
• company manager, Sunday in New York, Cort Theatre, New York City, 1961.
• general manager, Brecht on Brecht, Theatre De Lys, 1962.
• company manager, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, East 11th Street Theatre, New York City, 1962.
• general manager, Creditors, Mermaid Theatre, 1962.
• company manager, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Shubert Theatre, New York City, 1962.
• general manager, Anything Goes, Orpheum Theatre, New York City, 1962.
• producer, The Cats Pajamas, Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1962.
• general manager, Riverwind, Actors Playhouse, 1962.
• general manager, The Typist and The Tiger (double-bill), Orpheum Theatre,1963.
• general manager, Yes Is for a Very Young Man, Players Theatre, New York City, 1963.
• general manager, A Time of the Key, Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1963.
• general manager, Jo, Orpheum Theatre, 1964.
• general manager, Cindy and The Alchemist, both Gate Theatre, New York City, 1964.
• general manager, The Subject Was Roses, Royale Theatre, New York City, 1964.
• general manager, Gogo Loves You, I Knock at the Door, and Pictures in theHallway, all Theatre De Lys, 1964. General manager, A View from the Bridge,Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1965.
• general manager, The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis and Sing to Me Through Open Windows (double-bill), Players Theatre, 1965.
• general manager, First One Asleep, Whistle, Belasco Theatre, New York City, 1966.
• general manager (with Bill Levine), Die Mitschuldigen (The Accomplices) and Woyzeck (double-bill) and Die Ratten (The Rats) all Bavarian State Theatreof Munich, City Center Theatre, New York City, 1966.
• general manager, That Summer--That Fall, Helen Hayes Theatre, New York City, 1967.
• general manager, Arms and the Man, Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1967.
• general manager, Fragments, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1967.
• general manager, In Circles, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1967, then Gramercy Arts Theatre, New York City, 1968.
• general manager, Love and Let Love and Saturday Night, both Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1968.
• general manager, Who's Who, Baby?, Players Theatre, 1968.
• general manager, The Only Game in Town, Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 1968.
• general manager, Woman Is My Idea, Belasco Theatre, 1968.
• general manager, An Ordinary Man, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1968.
• general manager, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black and Love Your Crooked Neighbor, both Cherry Lane Theatre, 1969.
• general manager, A Way of Life, American National Theatre and Academy Theatre, New York City, 1969.
• general manager, God Bless You, Harold Fineberg, Actors Playhouse, 1969.
• producer (with Edgar Lansbury), Promenade, Promenade Theatre, New York City, 1969.
• general manager, Fireworks, Village South Theatre, New York City, 1969.
• Producer, Instructions for the Running of Trains, Etc. on the Erie Railway To Go into Effect January 1, 1862, and general manager, Golden Bat, both Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1970.
• general manager, Look to the Lilies, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, 1970.
• general manager, The Engagement Baby, Helen Hayes Theatre, 1970.
• producer (with Lansbury, Stuart Duncan, and H.B. Lutz) and general manager, Waiting for Godot and producer (with Lansbury, Duncan, and Nan Pearlman),Louis and the Elephant, both Sheridan Square Playhouse, 1971.
• general manager, Do It Again! and producer (with Lansbury, Duncan, and Jay H. Fuchs) and general manager, Long Day's Journey into Night, both Promenade Theatre, 1971.
• producer (with Lansbury and Duncan), Godspell, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1971,then Promenade Theatre, 1971-76, later Broadhurst Theatre, 1976, then Plymouth Theatre, 1976, then Ambassador Theatre, 1977.
• producer (with Lansbury and Duncan), Godspell, Wyndham's Theatre, London,1971.
• producer (with Lansbury and Duncan), Elizabeth I, Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 1972.
• producer (with Lansbury and Duncan), Comedy, Colonial Theatre, Boston, MA, 1972.
• producer (with Lansbury), Nourish the Beast, American Place Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1973.
• producer (with Lansbury and Clinton Wilder), The Enclave, Theatre Four, New York City, 1973.
• producer (with Lansbury, Barry M. Brown, and Fritz Holt), Gypsy, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1973, then Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles, later Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, both 1974.
• producer (with Lansbury and Ivan Reitman), The Magic Show, Cort Theatre,1974.
• producer (with Lansbury), The Night That Made America Famous, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1975.
• producer (with Lansbury), Blasts and Bravos--An Evening with H.L.
• Mencken, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1975.
• producer (with Lansbury), American Buffalo, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, thenBelasco Theatre, both 1977.
• producer (with Lansbury and James Nederlander), Broadway Follies, Nederlander Theatre, New York City, 1981.
• Credits; MAJOR TOURS
• General manager, The Porcelain Year, U.S. cities, 1965.
• general manager, The Subject Was Roses, U.S. cities, 1965-66.
• producer (with Edgar Lansbury and Stuart Duncan), Godspell, U.S. and Canadian cities, 1972-74.
• producer (with Lansbury, Barry M. Brown, and Fritz Holt), Gypsy, U.S.
• and Canadian cities, 1974-75.
• producer (with Lansbury and Ivan Reitman), The Magic Show, U.S.
• cities, 1974-75.
• Credits; FILM WORK; ALL WITH EDGAR LANSBURY
• Producer, Godspell, Columbia, 1973.
• executive producer, The Wild Party, American International, 1975.
• executive producer, Squirm, American International, 1976.
• executive producer, Blue Sunshine, Cinema Shares, 1978.
• executive producer, He Knows You're Alone, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1980.
• executive producer, The Killing Hour, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983.
• Also producer, The Clairvoyant, 1982.

Further Reference

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

• New York Times, October 31, 1989.
• Variety, November 8, 1989.