Biography

Joshua Logan

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Born
October 5, 1908 · Texarkana, Texas, USA
Died
July 12, 1988 · New York City, New York, USA (progressive supranuclear palsy)
Birth name
Joshua Lockwood Logan III

Joshua Logan started directing plays while he was still at Princeton and among the first actors he directed were Henry Fonda and James Stewart. His graduation from Princeton was delayed to accompany a classmate to Russia to study with Konstantin Stanislavski, inventor of "method acting". Stanislavski told him, "To be truly creative you must find your own way, you must not follow some old Stanislavski method". Stanislavski emphasized the importance of the writer and Logan was proudest of the plays and films that he wrote as well as directed. His second wife was the widow of actor Walter Connolly who was 9 years his senior. He published his autobiography in 1976 and died in 1988.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dale O'Connor <daleoc@worldnet.att.net>

Won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, "South Pacific", collaborating with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
A PhD dissertation written on him by Phil Boroff focused on his use of stage technique on film, and film technique on stage.
Won seven Tony Awards: two in 1948 for "Mister Roberts," with collaborator Thomas Heggen as Best Authors and as writers of the Best Play winner; four in 1950 for "South Pacific," as Best Director, Best Authors (Musical) with Oscar Hammerstein II, Best Producers (Musical) wirh Richard Rodgers, Hammerstein and Leland Hayward, and as writers, along with Rodgers and Hammerstein, of the Best Musical winner; and one in 1953, as Best Director for William Inge's "Picnic." He was also Tony-nominated on two other occasions: in 1959, as co-producer of Best Play nominee "Epitaph for George Dillon," and in 1962 as Best Director (Musical) for "All American."
Directed 6 different performers in Oscar-nominated performances: Arthur O'Connell, Don Murray, Red Buttons, Marlon Brando, Miyoshi Umeki, Charles Boyer. Umeki and Buttons won for their supporting performances in Sayonara (1957).
Wrote in his autobiography that he was offered the chance to direct My Fair Lady (1964), but the offer was withdrawn when he suggested that some scenes be shot on location in London.

[on Marilyn Monroe] As near genius as any actress I ever knew.
[As a perfectionist who strove for naturalism among his actors] When people tell me the direction was wonderful, I know I've failed. The audience should be entranced, hypnotized, transported like children listening to a fairy tale. The individual actor, playwright, or director who breaks the spell by drawing attention to himself and crowing 'See how clever I am!' is a crook.
Not since Attila the Hun swept across Europe, leaving five hundred years of total blackness, has there been a man like Lee Marvin.

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