Broadway Producer Don Gregory Dies at 80
Theatrical producer Don Gregory died of a stroke at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, on November 5. He was 80.
Gregory most recently produced the 2014 Broadway revival of “Harvey” starring Jim Parsons and directed by Scott Ellis.
He also produced on Broadway the revival of “My Fair Lady” starring Rex Harrison in 1981; the revival of “Camelot” starring Richard Burton and later Richard Harris in 1980; the award-winning “Othello” starring James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer, for which Gregory and the other producers won a Tony award; “Clarence Darrow,” starring Henry Fonda; and the original production of “The Belle of Amherst,” for which Julie Harris won a Tony award.
Gregory also produced Dore Schary’s “FDR” with Robert Vaughn, which became a motion picture, and “Paul Robeson,” starring Jones, which became a TV special after its Broadway run. The television version of “Clarence Darrow” also won a Peabody and Emmy. He also produced the national tour of “La Cage aux Folles.”
He made his mark in show business initially as a talent agent booking acts in Greenwich Village, helping to launch what he liked to call the coffee house “movement” as a great incubator of talent. He later joined the Agency for the Performing Arts, rising to vice president, responsible for such clients as Harry Belafonte, Bobby Darin, Rowan and Martin, Frank Gorshin and Red Buttons.
His television credits include the CBS movie “Fire in the Dark” with Olympia Dukakis, Lindsey Wagner and Jean Stapleton; and the NBC movie “Father and Son: Dangerous Relations,” starring Louis Gossett Jr. and Blair Underwood.
Gregory is survived by his wife of 34 years, Kaye; his two children, former “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory and Stephanie Gregory Mitchell; and his four grandchildren.
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