Well-deserving of his reputation as a "women's director" for tackling many feminine--and feminist--issues on screen, Herbert Ross began his career as a dancer and started choreographing American Ballet Theatre productions and Broadway shows in the early 1950s. In 1954, he graduated to staging Broadway musical sequences with "House of Flowers" and choreographed his first film "Carmen Jones". Ross' years in ballet accustomed him to perceiving women as independent and often more than men's equals, and bringing his sensibilities to the screen, he coaxed fine performances out of stars like Barbra Streisand, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Sally Field and Julia Roberts. He arguably has also been the foremost promoter of films with dance themes in recent years, boasting "The Turning Point" (1977), "Nijinsky" (1980), "Pennies from Heaven" (1981), "Footloose" (1984) and "Dancers" (1987), among his credits.
Ross made his feature directing debut with "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (1969), a musical remake of the 1939 classic, and then directed Streisand in her first non-singing role in "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970, also his first movie as producer). He hit his stride in the 70s with the delirious Woody Allen vehicle "Play It Again Sam" (1972), served the wit of the Anthony Perkins-Stephen Sondheim script for the mystery "The Last of Sheila" (1973) and the Sherlock Holmes pastiche "The Seven Per-Cent Solution" (1976), culminating in a string of five film (and two stage) collaborations with writer Neil Simon, beginning with the screen adaptation of "The Sunshine Boys" (1975), which starred George Burns and Walter Matthau. Ross returned to his dancing roots with an acclaimed study of the ballet world written by Arthur Laurents, "The Turning Point", one of five movies he co-produced with his wife Nora Kaye, a former prima ballerina who died of cancer in 1987. The critical and box-office success of "Steel Magnolias" (1989) and "Boys on the Side" (1995) only enhanced his image as a director of great emotional depth in tune with his feminine side.
- Also Credited As:
Herbert David Ross
- Born:
May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Died:
October 9, 2001.
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Job Titles:
Director, Choreographer, Dancer, Producer, Actor
Family
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Father: Louis Chester Ross.
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Mother: Martha Ross.
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Step-daughter: Anna Christina Radziwell.
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Step-son: Anthony Stanislas Radziwell. born in August 1959; died of cancer on August 11, 1999 at age 40; worked at ABC News where he won two News Emmy Awards
Education
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Herbert Berghof Studio, New York, New York
Milestones
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1942 Stage debut as Third Witch in touring company of Macbeth
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1950 Began choreography career with American Ballet Theatre
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1951 First Broadway show as choreographer, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
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1954 Began directing musical numbers for Broadway shows (i.e., House of Flowers )
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1954 First film as choreographer, Carmen Jones
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1955 Began writing and directing nightclub and cabaret acts, first for Eddie Albert and Margo and later Constance Bennett, Imogene Coca and Leslie Uggams, among others
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1959 Resident choreographer with American Ballet Theatre
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1960 Directed and choreographed the City Center revival of Finian s Rainbow
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1962 Directed Barbara Streisand s show-stopping number as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale
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1963 Choreographed the stage musical Tovarich , starring Vivian Leigh
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1964 First collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, staged the cult musical Anyone Can Whistle ; book by Arthur Laurents
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1965 Staged the musical numbers for Do I Hear a Waltz? , based on Laurents The Time of the Cuckoo ; music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Sondheim
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1966 Last Broadway show as choreographer, The Apple Tree
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1968 Reunited with Streisand as choreographer and director of musical numbers for the film Funny Girl
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1969 First film as director, the musical remake of Goodbye Mr. Chips , starring Peter O Toole
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1970 Directed Streisand in her first non-musical role, The Owl and the Pussycat ; first time as producer
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1973 Helmed The Last of Sheila , a mystery co-written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim
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1975 Directed Streisand again in the film sequel Funny Lady
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1975 First film adapted from a Neil Simon play, The Sunshine Boys
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1976 Produced and directed the Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
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1977 Had box-office hit with Simon s The Goodbye Girl
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1977 Helmed Simon s Chapter Two on Broadway
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1977 Produced and directed The Turning Point , starring Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine and Mikhail Baryshnikov; film received 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director
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1979 Directed Neil Simon s play I Ought to Be in Pictures
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1981 Won critical acclaim but little box-office for the screen adaptation of Pennies From Heaven
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1982 Helmed film version of I Ought to Be in Pictures
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1983 Fifth and last (to date) film collaboration with Simon, Max Dugan Returns
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1985 Staged a concert revival of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies at Lincoln Center; production taped for broadcast on PBS in 1986
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1987 Last film with Nora Kaye as producer, Dancers
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1989 Scored a hit with film adaptation of Robert Harling s play Steel Magnolias , featuring Sally Field, Dolly Parton and Shirley MacLaine
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1991 Executive producer for Soapdish , starring Sally Field
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1993 Directed a Los Angeles production of La Boheme and a Dallas production of it the following year
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1995 Produced and directed Boys on the Side , eliciting three strong, appealing performances from Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore
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Worked as dancer on Broadway