David Cryer
Encyclopedia
David Cryer is a veteran American stage, television and film actor and singer and one of the founders of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater
which began in Pittsburgh and New York’s Mirror Repertory Theatre. In recent years, he is best known for the role of Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera
, which he has played for nearly 19 years on the road and on Broadway. He has also played more performances of the Bernstein
Mass, as The Celebrant (including at the Metropolitan Opera
and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
and more performances as Juan Peron
in Evita (musical) than any other actor. Cryer and his first wife, the songwriter, Gretchen Cryer
, are the parents of the actor, Jon Cryer
and his sister, Robin Cryer Hyland. With his second wife, the dancer and actress, Britt Swanson, he is the father of four children: Rachel, Daniel, Carolyn, and Bill. He has eight grandchildren.
, and Jude Scribner in Come Summer. Leading roles off Broadway were in The Fantasticks
, The Streets of New York , Mademoiselle Colombe, and The Making of Americans. On the road he played opposite Anna Maria Alberghetti
in West Side Story
, Giorgio Tozzi
and Ricardo Montalban
in The King and I
, Dyan Cannon
in I Do! I Do!
, Debby Boone
in The Sound of Music
, and Judy Kaye
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical).
When he opened in Come Summer in 1969, Clive Barnes
of The New York Times said, “Mr. Cryer will return. Anyone who looks a little like Rudolph Nureyev and sounds like Franco Corelli
will not have much to worry about in the future.” Frank Rich
of the Times said his Juan Peron in Evita was “first-rate” while John Corry, also of the Times said it was “perfect”. He has been a guest soloist with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir on two occasions.
DePauw University
awarded Cryer an Alumni Citation in 1998, an Alumni Achievement Award in 2006, and the honorary degree, Doctor of Arts in 2009.
Producer Credits: Albert Poland and Cryer produced the National Tour of The Fantasticks
, and the New York production of the Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford musical Now Is The Time For All Good Men
.
Theatre Founder: In 1966 Cryer was one of the founders of the American Conservatory Theater
in Pittsburgh, which shortly thereafter moved to San Francisco. In 1983 he joined with others to create New York’s Mirror Repertory Theatre, starring Geraldine Page
.
, and American Gigolo
, several television series: Law & Order
, Dallas (TV series)
, and Wonder Woman (TV series)
among them. He starred for several years on the daytime serials As the World Turns
as Chicago Mafia boss Phillip Lombard, and Where the Heart Is (1969-71 TV series), among many others.
Cryer was born Donald David Cryer in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Donald Walter Cryer, a well-known Methodist minister in the West Ohio Conference, and Pauline Spitler. At the time of his birth, his father was attending Garrett Biblical Institute at Northwestern University. He grew up in Toledo, Carey, Westerville, and Findlay, Ohio, where his father served congregations; he graduated from Findlay High School in 1954. He has three siblings: Jonathan Douglas, a retired professor of statistics and actuarial science at the University of Iowa, Daniel Walter Cryer, author of a forthcoming biography of theologian Forrest Church, as well as a former Newsday critic and Pulitzer Prize
finalist, and Mary Kathleen (Kathy), a teacher. His mother, Pauline, died in 1952 and his father married Mary Garrison in 1955, adding step-siblings William, Katherine and Rebecca Garrison.
He graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1958, with a B.A. in History with Honors including the Walker Cup, given to the senior who has contributed the most to DePauw, Gold Key awarded to juniors for leadership and scholarship and the Lewis Sermon Award for an original sermon. He became deeply involved in music, playing trombone in the Orchestra, and Ray North’s dance band, and singing in The Lost Chords (a quartet modeled on The Four Freshmen
), the University Choir, the Collegians, Opera Workshop, the SDX Revue and the Monon Revue. He was president of the Student Senate and pledge trainer at Sigma Chi .
Upon graduation in 1958 he accepted a Rockefeller Fellowship to study for the ministry at Yale Divinity School . He applied to Harvard Law School and was enrolled in the fall of 1959, but was in a production of Oklahoma as Curly at the Polka Dot Playhouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut that summer and decided to go into the theater, instead. He enrolled at Boston University and earned an MFA in Directing in 1961.
In 1961 he served in the U. S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey as a private and then entered the Army Reserves in 1962 for six years.
), in 1965, a television and screen comedian and actor and one of the stars of the wildly successful television show, “Two and a Half Men.” Robin is the mother of two daughters, Hallie Rose Steiner (with first husband, Cliff) and Grace Louise Hyland (with current husband Phil Hyland). Jon is married to television entertainment reporter, Lisa Joyner, and they are parents to Charlie Austin and Daisy. Cryer’s marriage to Gretchen Cryer ended in divorce in December 1971.
Cryer met his second wife, Margaret Elizabeth (Britt) Swanson, an actor and dancer, when both played in Come Summer. They married on December 20, 1973 in Los Angeles. Most of their married life they have lived in New Jersey. The couple have four children: Rachel Britt, (born 1974), a teacher and writer who has two daughters, Abigail Ruth and Juliet Vivian with her former husband, Lukas Saul; Daniel Russell, (born 1976), an actor and social worker married to Annie Willingham, with whom he has a son, Logan Henry; Carolyn Elizabeth, (born 1979), a dancer married to Steven Lee, with whom she has a son, Miles Cryer Lee; and William David (born 1985), a graphic artist and computer science professional.
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
which began in Pittsburgh and New York’s Mirror Repertory Theatre. In recent years, he is best known for the role of Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, which he has played for nearly 19 years on the road and on Broadway. He has also played more performances of the Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
Mass, as The Celebrant (including at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
and more performances as Juan Peron
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
in Evita (musical) than any other actor. Cryer and his first wife, the songwriter, Gretchen Cryer
Gretchen Cryer
Gretchen Cryer is an American playwright, lyricist and actress.-Early life:Cryer was born Gretchen Kiger in Dunreith, Indiana, the daughter of Louise and Earl William Kiger...
, are the parents of the actor, Jon Cryer
Jon Cryer
Jonathan Niven "Jon" Cryer is an American actor, screenwriter and film producer. He is the son of actress–singer Gretchen Cryer. He made his motion picture debut in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair, but gained greater fame as "Duckie" in the 1986 John Hughes-scripted film Pretty in Pink...
and his sister, Robin Cryer Hyland. With his second wife, the dancer and actress, Britt Swanson, he is the father of four children: Rachel, Daniel, Carolyn, and Bill. He has eight grandchildren.
Broadway career
Cryer has played in 13 Broadway shows, including Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera, Juan Peron in Evita, Rutledge in 1776 musical, Ari in Ari, The Red Shadow in The Desert SongThe Desert Song
The Desert Song is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs, a group of Moroccan fighters, against French colonial rule. It was also inspired by stories of Lawrence of...
, and Jude Scribner in Come Summer. Leading roles off Broadway were in The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...
, The Streets of New York , Mademoiselle Colombe, and The Making of Americans. On the road he played opposite Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti is an Italian-born operatic singer and actress.Born in Pesaro, Marche, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress for Carnival! .Alberghetti was a child prodigy. Her father was an opera singer and concert master of the Rome Opera Company...
in West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
, Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
and Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
in The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
, Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...
in I Do! I Do!
I Do! I Do!
I Do! I Do! is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play The Fourposter. The two-character story spans fifty years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and downs experienced by Agnes and Michael Snow throughout their...
, Debby Boone
Debby Boone
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...
in The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
, and Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime and Mamma Mia!-Biography:...
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical).
When he opened in Come Summer in 1969, Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
of The New York Times said, “Mr. Cryer will return. Anyone who looks a little like Rudolph Nureyev and sounds like Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
will not have much to worry about in the future.” Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
of the Times said his Juan Peron in Evita was “first-rate” while John Corry, also of the Times said it was “perfect”. He has been a guest soloist with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir on two occasions.
DePauw University
DePauw University
DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, USA, is a private, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association...
awarded Cryer an Alumni Citation in 1998, an Alumni Achievement Award in 2006, and the honorary degree, Doctor of Arts in 2009.
Producer Credits: Albert Poland and Cryer produced the National Tour of The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...
, and the New York production of the Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford musical Now Is The Time For All Good Men
Now Is The Time For All Good Men (musical)
Now Is the Time for All Good Men was a 1967 Off-Broadway musical with music by Nancy Ford, book and lyrics and by Gretchen Cryer. It premiered at the Theatre De Lys on September 26, 1967 and closed on January 16, 1968.-Synopsis:...
.
Theatre Founder: In 1966 Cryer was one of the founders of the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
in Pittsburgh, which shortly thereafter moved to San Francisco. In 1983 he joined with others to create New York’s Mirror Repertory Theatre, starring Geraldine Page
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
.
Film and Television
Films include Escape from Alcatraz (film)Escape from Alcatraz (film)
Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American thriller film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood. It dramatizes possibly the only successful escape attempt from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. The film co-stars Fred Ward, and also features Patrick McGoohan as the...
, and American Gigolo
American Gigolo
American Gigolo is a 1980 crime drama film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is informally considered the second installment in his "lonely man" trilogy, following the Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver and preceding Light Sleeper .-Plot:Julian Kaye is a male prostitute in Los Angeles...
, several television series: Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, Dallas (TV series)
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, and Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
among them. He starred for several years on the daytime serials As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
as Chicago Mafia boss Phillip Lombard, and Where the Heart Is (1969-71 TV series), among many others.
Early years
Cryer was born Donald David Cryer in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Donald Walter Cryer, a well-known Methodist minister in the West Ohio Conference, and Pauline Spitler. At the time of his birth, his father was attending Garrett Biblical Institute at Northwestern University. He grew up in Toledo, Carey, Westerville, and Findlay, Ohio, where his father served congregations; he graduated from Findlay High School in 1954. He has three siblings: Jonathan Douglas, a retired professor of statistics and actuarial science at the University of Iowa, Daniel Walter Cryer, author of a forthcoming biography of theologian Forrest Church, as well as a former Newsday critic and Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
finalist, and Mary Kathleen (Kathy), a teacher. His mother, Pauline, died in 1952 and his father married Mary Garrison in 1955, adding step-siblings William, Katherine and Rebecca Garrison.
He graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1958, with a B.A. in History with Honors including the Walker Cup, given to the senior who has contributed the most to DePauw, Gold Key awarded to juniors for leadership and scholarship and the Lewis Sermon Award for an original sermon. He became deeply involved in music, playing trombone in the Orchestra, and Ray North’s dance band, and singing in The Lost Chords (a quartet modeled on The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...
), the University Choir, the Collegians, Opera Workshop, the SDX Revue and the Monon Revue. He was president of the Student Senate and pledge trainer at Sigma Chi .
Upon graduation in 1958 he accepted a Rockefeller Fellowship to study for the ministry at Yale Divinity School . He applied to Harvard Law School and was enrolled in the fall of 1959, but was in a production of Oklahoma as Curly at the Polka Dot Playhouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut that summer and decided to go into the theater, instead. He enrolled at Boston University and earned an MFA in Directing in 1961.
In 1961 he served in the U. S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey as a private and then entered the Army Reserves in 1962 for six years.
Personal life
David Cryer had met Gretchen Kiger in college where she and Nancy Ford were very prominent in theater, both performing and writing shows. He and Ms. Kiger were married on graduation day, June 8, 1958 in Greencastle. Two children were born from this union: Robin, in 1963, a singer and church worker, and Jonathan "Jon" Niven Cryer(Jon CryerJon Cryer
Jonathan Niven "Jon" Cryer is an American actor, screenwriter and film producer. He is the son of actress–singer Gretchen Cryer. He made his motion picture debut in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair, but gained greater fame as "Duckie" in the 1986 John Hughes-scripted film Pretty in Pink...
), in 1965, a television and screen comedian and actor and one of the stars of the wildly successful television show, “Two and a Half Men.” Robin is the mother of two daughters, Hallie Rose Steiner (with first husband, Cliff) and Grace Louise Hyland (with current husband Phil Hyland). Jon is married to television entertainment reporter, Lisa Joyner, and they are parents to Charlie Austin and Daisy. Cryer’s marriage to Gretchen Cryer ended in divorce in December 1971.
Cryer met his second wife, Margaret Elizabeth (Britt) Swanson, an actor and dancer, when both played in Come Summer. They married on December 20, 1973 in Los Angeles. Most of their married life they have lived in New Jersey. The couple have four children: Rachel Britt, (born 1974), a teacher and writer who has two daughters, Abigail Ruth and Juliet Vivian with her former husband, Lukas Saul; Daniel Russell, (born 1976), an actor and social worker married to Annie Willingham, with whom he has a son, Logan Henry; Carolyn Elizabeth, (born 1979), a dancer married to Steven Lee, with whom she has a son, Miles Cryer Lee; and William David (born 1985), a graphic artist and computer science professional.
Accolades
| Year | Group | Award | Result | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | NA | Theater World | Come Summer | |
| 1972 | NA | Obie Award Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City... |
The Making of Americans | |
| 1988 | Best Actor | Detroit Free Press Award | Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation... |