Melvin Bernhardt (February 26, 1931 – September 12, 2015) was an American stage and

television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the prod ...

. He was born and raised in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, and much of his work has been in the New York City area. He is known for his productions of '' The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds'', '' Da'', and ''

Crimes of the Heart ''Crimes of the Heart'' is a play by American playwright Beth Henley. It is set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi in the mid-20th century. The play won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. In 1986, th ...

''. Bernhardt began his career as a

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...

; he made his directorial debut in 1965 with ''Conerico was Here to Stay'' at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Biography

Melvin Bernhard (he later added the "t" to his surname in tribute to

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

) was born on February 26, 1931 in

. His parents were Max Bernhard and Kate Benatovich. He obtained his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

and his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Beginning January 8, 1989 Bernhardt was partnered with New York based stage/television actor and audiobook narrator Jeff Woodman. The pair were married on September 10, 2011. Bernhardt died in Manhattan, New York on September 12, 2015 after a fall at the age of 84.

Career

Melvin Bernhardt began his career as a

. He served as the stage manager for the original

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

productions of '' Diary of a Scoundrel'' and '' Livin' the Life''. Bernhardt directed his first play, ''Conerico was Here to Stay'', at the Cherry Lane Theatre in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1965. From there, Bernhardt directed plays throughout the United States, including productions in

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and a national tour of ''Who's Happy Now?'' in 1968. He made his

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

directing debut in November 1972 at the Hampstead Theatre Club with his production of '' The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds''. Bernhardt is known as an "actor's director", as he focuses more on character development than on elaborate staging. He is currently a member of the Honorary Advisory Committee of the

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), formerly known as Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC), is an independent national labor union established in 1959, representing theatrical directors and choreographe ...

Broadway

In addition to winning multiple

Obie award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

s for his

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

work, Bernhardt has had a successful career as a Broadway theatre director. His first Broadway production came in 1969 when he directed ''Home Fires'' and ''Cop-Out'', a pair of one-act plays written by

John Guare John Guare ( ; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of '' The House of Blue Leaves'' and '' Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckma ...

. The production, which was staged at the

Cort Theatre The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 48th Street (Manhattan), West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater ...

, was harshly criticized and closed after just eight performances. Although the individual performances of the actors were well received, the plays themselves were seen as "enigmatic drama", "weak social satire", and "feeble exercises in juvenility". 1 May 1978 marked the debut of the original Broadway production of '' Da'', a comedy by Hugh Leonard which proved to be one of the more successful plays in Bernhardt's career. The play, which ran for nearly 700 performances at the

Morosco Theatre The Morosco Theatre was a Broadway theatre near Times Square in New York City from 1917 to 1982. It housed many notable productions and its demolition, along with four adjacent theaters, was controversial. History Located at 217 West 45th Stre ...

, earned Bernhardt the 1978

Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * ...

and the 1978 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play. Bernhardt's other major Broadway success was ''

'', which opened at the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

on 4 November 1981. The production earned a slew of awards and nominations, including nominations for the 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play and the 1982 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.

Television

Although the majority of Bernhardt's directorial work has taken place on the stage, he has also had some experience in television directing. His work on '' Another World'' earned him a nomination for the 1979 and 1980 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team. He earned another nomination for this award in 1985 for his work on ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

''. Other television work includes several episodes of ''All My Children'', and, in 1984, a live production of ''Mister Roberts'' for ''NBC Live Theater''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhardt, Melvin 1931 births 2015 deaths American theatre directors Drama Desk Award winners LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ theatre directors Tony Award winners Artists from Buffalo, New York David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni University at Buffalo alumni