Biography

Mart Crowley

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Born
August 21, 1935 · Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA
Died
March 7, 2020 · New York City, New York, USA (complications from heart surgery)
Birth name
Edward Martino Crowley

Mart Crowley was born on August 21, 1935 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Boys in the Band (2020), Hart to Hart (1979) and The Boys in the Band (1970). He died on March 7, 2020 in New York City, New York, USA.

Was close friends with Natalie Wood. The two first met in 1960 during filming of 'Splendor in the Grass' when Mart was an assistant for Elia Kazan. When Natalie heard that Crowley would be out of a job once the production was finished filming she hired him to be her assistant and secretary. They remained friends until her death in 1981.
After several of his scripts were not produced in the mid-1960s, he was broke, and fell into depression. Close friend Natalie Wood offered him psychoanalysis for a birthday present, which at first he turned down, but wrote about it in his journal. A few months later, regretting not taking her up on the offer, but not knowing how to ask her for it, he took his journal to her house, opened up to that page and showed it to her, which led to her paying for six months worth of appointments for him with a Los Angeles psychiatrist. He credits her for saving his life.
His long time friendship with Natalie Wood led to his being hired as a producer on Robert Wagner's Hart to Hart (1979) television series.
Is godfather of Natasha Gregson Wagner.
Says the character of Harold in his seminal work The Boys in the Band (1970), was based on his friend, producer/choreographer Howard Jeffrey.

I feel my whole life is observing, and I wish I could get into the action. I came from a very ugly background and a very ugly small town with people with very ugly attitudes. I had a need for beauty, and I think I share that with lots of people. That need comes simply because of all of the sordidness and unhappiness and resentment as well as the calamity of growing up gay when I was growing up. That's a roundabout way of saying I never felt too included.

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