Born June 25, 1887, in Forestville, NY; died January 31, 1995, in Miami Beach, FL. Actor, director, producer, and playwright. Abbott was the winner of seven Antoinette Perry Awards (Tonys) as a producer and director, as well as a 1960 Pulitzer Prize in drama for his Broadway play Fiorello! Upon graduating from the University of Rochester, the playwright continued his studies at Harvard University with G. P. Baker. Abbott then began his eighty-year career with a one-act play, "Head of the Family," in 1912. Working successfully in film, television, and print, Abbott made his Broadway debut in 1913 as Babe Merrill in The Misleading Lady, and became celebrated for what some critics dubbed"The Abbott Touch" as a producer and director. Between the years 1948 and 1962 his theater shows were awarded forty Tony awards and were nominated for several others. Among his most acclaimed plays are A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Fiorello!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Never Too Late. Abbott was also the author oftwo books--an autobiography, Mister Abbott, published in 1963, and Try-Out, anovel released in 1979. In 1965 New York City's Fifty-fourth Street Theatrewas renamed the George Abbott Theatre in honor of the "man of the theater," and possessor of the famed "Abbott Touch." Abbott was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 1972.
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