The 20th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast on June 16, 1966, from the

Rainbow Room The Rainbow Room is a private event space on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Tishman Speyer, it is among the highest venues in New York City. The Rainbow Room serves cla ...

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

on radio station WCBS. This was the first afternoon Tony Awards ceremony. The Masters of Ceremonies were

George Abbott George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. Early years Abbott was born in Forestville, New Yo ...

and

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

. The ceremony was sponsored by the League of New York Theatres in conjunction with the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

, which had previously solely arranged the ceremony. Zolotow, Sam. ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', "5 Tonys Awards to 'LaMancha'", June 17, 1966, p.37

The ceremony

Presenters: Lauren Bacall,

Herschel Bernardi Herschel Bernardi (October 30, 1923 – May 9, 1986) was an American actor and singer. He is best known for his supporting role in the drama television series ''Peter Gunn'' (1958–1961) and his leading role in the comedy television serie ...

Sandy Dennis Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), she rec ...

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

, Phil Ford, Mimi Hines, Ray Milland,

Barry Nelson Barry Nelson (born Robert Haakon Nielsen; April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007) was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond. Early life Nelson was born in San Francisco, the son of Norwegian imm ...

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...

, Thelma Oliver,

April Olrich April Olrich (17 July 1931 – 15 April 2014), born Edith April Oelrichs, was an English ballerina and actress, born in Zanzibar, now part of Tanzania. Early life Edith April Oelrichs was born in Zanzibar in 1931 (some sources give 1933), where h ...

Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

Music was by Meyer Davis and his Orchestra.

Award winners and nominees

''Winners are in bold''

Special awards

Helen Menken Helen Menken ( née Meinken; December 12, 1901 – March 27, 1966) was an American stage actress. Early years Menken was born in New York City to a German-French father, Frederick Meinken, and an Irish-born mother, Mary Madden. Her parents wer ...

(posthumous), for a lifetime of devotion and dedicated service to the Broadway theatre.

Multiple nominations and awards

These productions had multiple nominations: *''9 nominations:'' '' Sweet Charity'' *''8 nominations:'' ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'' *''7 nominations:'' '' Man of La Mancha'' *''5 nominations:'' ''

Marat/Sade ''The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (german: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgrupp ...

'', ''

Philadelphia, Here I Come! ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. Plot ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' centres around Gareth ...

'' and '' Skyscraper'' *''3 nominations:'' '' It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman'', ''

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on ''Berkeley Square'', written in 1926 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been re ...

'' and '' Pickwick'' *''2 nominations:'' '' Cactus Flower'', '' Inadmissible Evidence'', '' The Lion in Winter'', '' The Right Honourable Gentleman'' and '' Slapstick Tragedy'' The following productions received multiple awards. *''5 wins:'' '' Man of La Mancha'' *''4 wins:'' ''

'' *''3 wins:'' ''

References

External links

Tony Awards official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tony Awards, 20 Tony Awards ceremonies 1966 in theatre 1966 awards in the United States June 1966 events in the United States 1966 in New York City