Louis LaRusso II, 67, Playwright
Louis LaRusso II, a playwright best known for his dramatic and often comic depictions of Hoboken-based blue-collar workers, died in Jersey City, NJ on Sat., Feb. 22. He was 67. The cause of death was bladder cancer, which he had been battling for many years.
LaRusso was a prolific playwright, penning dozens of works, although his most successful was probably "Lamppost Reunion," which won Tony and Drama Desk nominations in 1976.
His other Broadway credits include "Wheelbarrow Closers" and "Knockout." Among his Off-Broadway pieces were "Marlon Brando Sat Right Here" and, most recently, "Sweatshop," which played at the American Theatre of Actors in 1998.
LaRusso, a Hoboken native who studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, also worked as a screenwriter, helping to rewrite "Saturday Night Fever" and receiving credit for such movies as "The Closer" (based on his own play), "Beyond the Reef," and "Hell Hunters."
In addition to his films, he worked on the books of several Broadway musicals, most notably "Dreamgirls."
Rusty Magee, 47, Composer-Performer
Rusty Magee, best known as a composer and lyricist, whose work appeared in a range of venues, died from colon cancer in New York City on Sun., Feb. 16. He was 47.
Magee won the New York Outer Critics Circle James Fleetwood Award for his music and lyrics for Molière's "Scapin" in 1993, produced at the CSC Repertory Theatre in New York, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Intiman Theatre in Seattle, among others. Magee also served as the composer and lyricist for "The Green Heart" (written with Charles Busch and produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club), "Ubu Rock," Goldoni's "Servant of Two Masters," and Molière's "The Imagining Invalid" for the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.
Other credits include penning the score for Frank McCourt's musical piece, "The Irish…and How They Got That Way," and the children's Christmas opera, "Flurry Tale," performed by American Opera Projects at Lincoln Center in 1999.
In addition to serving as the music director of Manhattan's Irish Repertory Theatre, Magee worked as a comic and cabaret performer.
He is survived by his wife, actress Alison Fraser, and their son, Nathaniel.
Susan Johnson, 75, Broadway Actress
Susan Johnson, who belted out "Big D" in the original production of the Frank Loesser musical "The Most Happy Fella" and created roles in a number of Broadway musicals of the 1950s and '60s, died in Sacramento, Calif. on Mon., Feb. 24, due to complications from emphysema. She was 75.
In addition to the Loesser musical—for which she won a Theatre World Award—Johnson's first Broadway role was as a replacement in the original production of "Brigadoon." Roles in "Buttrio Square," "Oh Captain!," "Whoop-Up," and "Donnybrook!" followed. The latter show was her final Main Stew bow, in 1961.
Born Marilyn Jeanne Johnson and a graduate of Ohio State University, her concluding appearance on Broadway did not conclude her career on stage or screen. Moving to the West Coast, Johnson made several stage appearances, including playing Stella Deems in a Long Beach Civic Opera mounting of the musical "Follies" and playing a singing nun in the 1992 film "Sister Act."
She is survived by her daughter, Coriane.
Anne Burr McDermott, 84, Broadway Actress
Anne Burr McDermott, who made her Broadway debut in 1941 in "Native Son," co-written by Paul Green and Richard Wright and directed by Orson Welles, died Sat., Feb. 1 at her home in Old Lyme, Conn. She was 84.
McDermott, who continued to use her stage name even after her 1953 marriage, was featured in a string of Broadway productions throughout the 1940s. They included: "Plan M" (1942), a revival of "Native Son" (1943), "While the Sun Shines" (1944), and the original mounting of John Patrick's "The Hasty Heart" (1945).
Her last Broadway outing, however, was in 1974: Her original play, "Mert & Phil," was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival and directed by Joseph Papp at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. Starring Estelle Parsons, the play ran 41 performances and examined the impact of a woman's mastectomy on her marriage.
In the 1950s, Burr transitioned into the new medium of TV, playing a doctor on the CBS series "City Hospital." Later on, she was one of the original stars of "As the World Turns."
Her husband died in 1990; she is survived by a daughter, two sons, and five grandchildren.
Bernie Levine, 75, Acting School Founder
Bernie Levine, who, along with his wife Bunny Levine, founded the Actors Connection in 1990, died from pancreatic cancer at his home in Cliffside Park, NJ on Sat., Feb. 22. He was 75.
The Orange, N.J. native was a retired mathematics professor before launching the Actors Connection, a networking-cum-teaching organization. The Levines sold the Actors Connection three years ago, although it continues to thrive (under new ownership) at the Film Center building.
Donations can be made to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research or the Actors' Fund.
Fred Hudson, 74, Arts Center Founder
Fred Hudson, best known as the president and artistic director of the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, an Upper West Side cultural institution that taught African-American writers and actors, died from heart failure on Thurs., Feb. 13 in Manhattan. He was 74.
Among his more accomplished students: Danny Glover, S. Epatha Merkerson, Garrett Morris, and Samuel L. Jackson.
After serving in the Korean War, Hudson graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied music and dramatic literature. He wrote a host of scripts before joining novelist Budd Schulberg in 1965 at his newly launched Watts Writers Workshop. Its mission was to discover and mentor black writing talent and help debunk the stereotypic images of African-Americans that surfaced during the Watts riots in 1965.
Six years later, Schulberg and Hudson moved to New York and set up the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center. Over the decades, the center expanded its mission to offer courses in directing, film, video, and journalism.
Hudson's most notable writing was for the 1974 film "The Education of Sonny Carson," a script based on Carson's autobiography about being a black activist.
Eugene Troobnick, 75, Second City Member
Eugene Troobnick, an actor who was one of the original members of the Chicago-based Second City comedy troupe, died in Seattle, Wash. on Wed., Feb. 19. He was 75.
Among his better-known onstage personae were the superhero Business Man and an intellectually gifted university student attempting to grasp the rules of football.
In 1953, along with fellow Second City founders Paul Sills and David Shepherd, he launched the Playwright's Theatre Club, and later worked from time to time with its successor, the Compass Players.
In the 1970s, he performed and taught at the Yale School of Drama. As a character actor, he appeared in such films as "California Split" and "Funny Lady"; and from 1991-1995 he had a regular part on the daytime drama "Guiding Light."
Frankie Hewitt, 71, D.C. Artistic Director
Frankie Hewitt, founder and producing artistic director of the Ford's Theatre Society, died of cancer on Fri., Feb. 28. She was 71.
Hewitt started working as a speechwriter on Capitol Hill in 1958. In 1965, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall told her plans were underway to restore Ford's Theatre, but as a museum. She adamantly suggested the restoration also include a theatre.
Over the next several years, the theatre space became a reality. The operation of the building was divided between the National Park Service, which oversaw the national historic site and the museum, and Hewitt's newly formed Ford's Theatre Society for live performances. "John Brown's Body" opened in the intimate, restored space on Feb. 12, 1968.
Over the past 35 years, Hewitt produced over 150 plays, including the world premiere of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" in 1971, an 18-month run of "Godspell" that opened in 1972, and other successes including "Elmer Gantry," "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God," and two James Whitmore one-man shows—"Give 'Em Hell, Harry!" and "Will Rogers' USA."
Hewitt also was executive producer of over 15 network television shows broadcast from the theatre.
In addition to numerous awards for her work, President George W. Bush honored her with the 2002 National Humanities Medal.