Theatre Register

Ted Thurston

Shows · Ted Thurston

Director 1917–1994 On stage 19401980

Ted Thurston (January 9, 1917 – July 23, 1994) was an American actor and singer. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Thurston made his Broadway debut in the short-lived 1951 musical Flahooley. He had better luck with his next show, the Lerner and Loewe musical Paint Your Wagon. Additional Broadway credits include Kismet, The Happiest Girl in the World, The Girl in Pink Tights, The Most Happy Fella, Li'l Abner, I Had a Ball, Luther, Gantry, Onward Victoria, and perhaps his best-known role, Edgar Allan Rich in Celebration. Thurston reprised his Li'l Abner role in the film version. Thurston was married to dancer/choreographer Dania Krupska. He died of stomach cancer in East Hampton, New York.

On stage 18 productions, 40 years

1940 Big White Fog Lincoln Theatre · Original · directed by Powell Lindsay 64 perf.
1951 Flahooley Broadhurst Theatre · Original · directed by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy 40 perf.
1951 Paint Your Wagon Shubert Theatre · Original · directed by Daniel Mann 289 perf.
1952 Buttrio Square New Century Theatre · Original · directed by Maurice Levine Cast: David Kurlan (Michelino), Vincent Barbi (Padre), Rina Falcone (Angela), Joan Morton (Maria), Ann Needham (Elizabetta), Lionel Ames (Dominic), Ernest Sarracino (Baron D’Alessandro), Ferdinand Hilt (Rocco), James MacCracken (Vittorio), Orville Sherman (Cassio), Ted Thurston (Pietro), Jane Harven (Emelia), Marie Gibson (Francesca), Billy Gilbert (Pappa Mario), Charlotte Jones (Norina), Henry Hamilton (Carlo), Walter Black (Sergeant McKenzie), Lawrence Brooks (Captain Steve Dickson), James Tarbutton (Private Poole), Leon Daniels (Tabulator), Lois Hunt (Marisa D’Alessandro), Joe Mantell (Private Burns), Al Checco (Corporal Gower), George Reeder (Private Whitfield), Don (Donn) Driver (Private Webster), Susan Johnson (Terry Patterson), Marti Stevens (Joan Wellington) 7 perf.
1953 Kismet Ziegfeld Theatre · Revival · directed by Albert Marre 583 perf.
1954 The Girl in Pink Tights Mark Hellinger Theatre · Original · directed by Agnes de Mille 115 perf.
1956 Li’l Abner St. James Theatre · Original · directed by Michael Kidd 693 perf.
1961 Let It Ride Eugene O'Neill Theatre · Original · directed by Stanley Prager 68 perf.
1961 The Happiest Girl in the World Martin Beck Theatre · Original · directed by Cyril Ritchard 96 perf.
1963 Luther St James Theatre · Original · directed by Tony Richardson 211 perf.
1963 Sophie Winter Garden · Revival · directed by Jack Sydow 8 perf.
1964 Cafe Crown Martin Beck Theatre · Revival · directed by Jerome Eskow 3 perf.
1964 I Had a Ball Martin Beck Theatre · Original · directed by Lloyd Richards 199 perf.
1969 Celebration Ambassador Theatre · Original · directed by Vernon Lusby 109 perf.
1970 Gantry George Abbott Theatre · Original · directed by Onna White 1 perf.
1971 Wild and Wonderful Lyceum Theatre · Original · directed by Burry Fredrik 1 perf.
1973 Smith Eden Theatre · Original · directed by Neal Kenyon 17 perf.
1980 Onward Victoria Martin Beck Theatre · Original · directed by Julianne Boyd 1 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

John Wheeler 3 productions
Joanne Spiller 3 productions
James Tarbutton 3 productions
Urylee Leonardos 2 productions
Terry Violino 2 productions
Stuart Hodes 2 productions
Stanley Simmonds 2 productions
Shirley Leinwand 2 productions
Sam Levene 2 productions
Rosetta LeNoire 2 productions
Robert Penn 2 productions
Robert Lenn 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 9 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on1 work

Li’l Abner

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature7 passages

  • Act One: “You Too Can Be a Puppet” (Lois Shearer, John Anderson, Carl Donn, Ted Thurston, Fay De Witt, Stanley Carlson, Franz Fazakas, Carl Harms); “Here’s to Your Illusions” (Barbara Cook, Jerome Courtland); “B. G. Bigelow, Inc.” (Executives, Personnel); “Demonstration Dances” (Sara Aman, Joe Nash, Sheldon Ossosky, Annaliese Widman, Jane…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • produced by Cheryl Crawford and. Redd Chandler;aPortfolio Production” (Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt) with Susan Watson, Ted Thurston,Keith Charles, and Michael Glenn-Smiththeatre-pdfs/More Opening Nights on Broadway - Steven Suskin.txt
  • with Jul Eikenberry, Michael Zaslow, Beth Austin (replacing . . Pamela Blair), Edmond Genest, Ted Thurston, Laura re Ve ey : Jim Jansen, and Lenny Wolpe — opened December 14, 1980 — “Martin Beck Theattheatre-pdfs/More Opening Nights on Broadway - Steven Suskin.txt
  • starring Laura McDuffie (replacing Julie Budd), Walter Willison, Robert Burr, Ted Thurston, and Larry Small opened December 7, 1 G71theatre-pdfs/More Opening Nights on Broadway - Steven Suskin.txt
  • with Johnny Melfi, Betty Madigan ee Gretta Thyssen), Luba Lisa, Claiborne Cary, Jackie Alloway, Brandon Maggart, : Jack Fletcher, Ted Thurston, Suzanne Co and me B. Able and Graziellatheatre-pdfs/More Opening Nights on Broadway - Steven Suskin.txt
  • Anne O'Donnell, Christine Carter, Ed Flanders, Charles Hudson, Hugh Hurd, Don Kersey, Beverlee McKinsey, Arnold Soboloff, Ted Thurstontheatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 1971-72 Season, v. 28 (Willis).txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — director — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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