John McMartin

about

John McMartin (August 21, 1929 – July 6, 2016) was an American actor of stage, musical theatre, film and television. McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana in 1929 and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, opposite Eileen Brennan and Elmarie Wendel. He won a Theatre World Award for his role as Corporal Billy Jester, and married one of the show's producers, Cynthia Baer, in 1960; they divorced in 1971. His first Broadway appearance was as Forrest Noble in The Conquering Hero in 1961, which was followed by Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He created the role of Oscar in Sweet Charity in 1966, opposite Gwen Verdon, garnering a Tony nomination, and played the role again in the 1969 film opposite Shirley MacLaine. He was reportedly cast in Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1962, but his role was cut before the show opened. He later starred in the original Broadway production of Sondheim's Follies opposite Alexis Smith in 1971 as Benjamin Stone, introducing the ballad "The Road You Didn't Take". His association with Sondheim has continued, appearing in A Little Night Music as Frederick at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, in 1991. The reviewer for the Orange County Register (California) wrote that the actor was "aggressively deadpan as her rediscovered old flame ..." He appeared in the Broadway revival of Into the Woods in 2002, in the dual role of the N

top songs

albums

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Anything Goes

Follies / Original Broadway Cast

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Anything Goes (New Broadway Cast Recording)

Sweet Charity

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Sweet Charity - Original Broadway Cast

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Follies

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Anything Goes (2011 Broadway Cast Recording)

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Into the Woods [2002 Broadway Revival Cast]

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Follies (Original Broadway Cast)

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Grey Gardens: The Musical

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Grey Gardens: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

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Anything Goes (2011 New Broadway Cast Recording)

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