Enough with the complaints that actors and actresses of a certain age have trouble getting recognition for their hard work. In the New York theatre, at least, Richard Seff, the highflying Broadway agent who bravely switched professions in midlife to become a successful and noted character actor, is doing something proactive about it.
Actors' Equity Association will administer the new Richard Seff Award, a $1,000 honor to be handed out each year to a character actor and actress over the age of 50 or who has logged at least 25 years on the Broadway or Off-Broadway stage.
The award is deliberately modeled after the Clarence Derwent Award, which was established in 1944 by AEA's then-president—himself one of the most esteemed character actors of the first half of the 20th century—to celebrate the most promising male and female performers in the New York metropolitan scene each season. Past recipients include Annette Bening, Kristin Chenoweth, Calista Flockhart, Gene Hackman, Dana Ivey, John Malkovich, George C. Scott, Frances Sternhagen, Gene Wilder, and James Woods. Like the Derwent, winners of the Richard Seff Award will receive a crystal trophy that is now being designed. The Richard Seff Award will also be announced and handed out at the same time as the Clarence Derwent Award late next spring.
In his long career, Richard Seff has been a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the footlights. He began as an actor in his late-teens, appearing in the original production of Sidney Kingsley's "Darkness at Noon" in 1951, which starred Claude Rains and Kim Hunter. By his mid-20s, Seff had segued into the agent world, coming to represent a bevy of musical theatre powerhouses, including performers Nancy Dussault, Linda Lavin, and Chita Rivera, composer-lyricists John Kander and Fred Ebb, choreographer-director Ron Field, and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" writer Clark Gesner.
In 1970, Seff returned to the creative side of the industry and quickly wore a multitude of hats. His play, "Paris is Out!," ran on Broadway for two months; by 1976, he was assistant director for the original mounting of the Alan Ayckbourn trilogy, "The Norman Conquests." Subsequent Broadway appearances as a performer included Arthur Kopit's "End of the World" in 1984 and John Bishop's "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940" in 1987. Today, Seff remains active in the industry; this year, he appeared on an episode of "Law & Order."
The committee that selects the winners of the Clarence Derwent Award will also select the recipients of the Richard Seff Award. Current committee members include Clive Barnes of the New York Post; Irene Backalenick of Back Stage; Betty Corwin, director of special projects, Theatre on Film and Tape Collection of the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts; Charles Isherwood of Variety; Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press; Patrick Quinn, president of Actors' Equity Association; Michael Sommers of Newhouse Newspapers; Douglas Watt of the New York Daily News; and Carl Harms, president of the Actors' Equity Foundation.