George S. Irving
Encyclopedia
George S. Irving is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor, known primarily for his character
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 roles on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

. Born George Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

, he made his debut in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...

, only to be drafted days later to serve in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He is one of only four surviving cast members of the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...

, along with Joan Roberts, Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...

, and Bambi Lynn.

Irving is best known to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 audiences for his role opposite Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...

 in Irene
Irene
Irene is a name derived from the Greek word εἰρήνη meaning "peace". It may also be spelled or transliterated as "Irini", "Eirene", or "Eirini".It may refer to:-Mythical figures:* Eirene , one of the Horae...

 (1974) and his Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 nominated performance as Sir John in Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth....

 (1987).

One of his most prominent non-Broadway roles was a voice-over for Rankin-Bass's animated holiday television special The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animated television special. It usually airs during the Christmas season on United States television. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth.-Summary:The show is set in the...

, in which he played the embittered Heat Miser
Heat Miser
Heat Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass 1974 children's television special The Year Without a Santa Claus. A vaguely demonic ogre-like being, Heat Miser is a blustery, quick-tempered hothead who is ultimately harmless...

 opposite Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...

's Snow Miser
Snow Miser
Snow Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass-produced 1974 stop-motion animated Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Snow Miser was voiced by actor/comedian Dick Shawn....

. He did another voice-over for Rankin-Bass as Mister Geppetto
Mister Geppetto
Mister Geppetto is a fictional character in the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator of Pinocchio...

 in Pinocchio's Christmas
Pinocchio's Christmas
Pinocchio's Christmas is a Rankin/Bass Christmas television special. It was released on DVD as part of a box set of specials entitled "Classic Christmas Favorites" on October 7, 2008. It airs annually during the Christmas season on ABC Family.-Synopsis:...

and was the narrator of the animated cartoon series Underdog. Irving also narrated the popular Scary Stories Audio Books.
In 2008, Irving recreated the three roles he originally played in the ill-fated 1976 Joseph Stein
Joseph Stein
Joseph Stein was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba.-Biography:...

 musical So Long, 174th Street, now reworked, revised, and retitled Enter Laughing at Off-Broadway's York Theatre Company, and received rave reviews for his rendition of "The Butler's Song".

Irving performed his one-man cabaret show to great acclaim at Feinstein's in New York City in November 2008.

On December 8, 2008, aged 86, Irving received the 17th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

Irving returned to television in 2008 after an absence of more than a decade to reprise his role as Heat Miser in a new sequel to The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animated television special. It usually airs during the Christmas season on United States television. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth.-Summary:The show is set in the...

, A Miser Brothers' Christmas
A Miser Brothers' Christmas
A Miser Brothers' Christmas is a stop motion spin-off special based on the characters from 1974 Rankin-Bass special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Produced by Warner Bros...

,
which premiered on December 13, 2008, on cable's ABC Family. The show served as the network's first-ever original animated special. The production was nominated for an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...

 for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children by the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Animated Film Society.

Stage productions

  • A Wonderful Life
    A Wonderful Life (musical)
    A Wonderful Life is a musical with a book and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Joe Raposo.Based on the classic Frank Capra film starring James Stewart, the story closely follows the original plot, set in 1945, telling the story of a suicidal man whose guardian angel reveals to him how...

    (2005)
  • Me and My Girl
    Me and My Girl
    Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth....

    (1986)
  • On Your Toes
    On Your Toes
    On Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939....

    (1983 revival)
  • Copperfield
    Copperfield (musical)
    Copperfield is a 1981 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, who were nominated for the 1981 Tony Award for Best Original Score. It is based on the classic 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens....

    (1981)
  • The Pirates of Penzance
    The Pirates of Penzance
    The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...

    (1981 revival)
  • I Remember Mama
    I Remember Mama (musical)
    I Remember Mama is a musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, lyrics by Martin Charnin and Raymond Jessel, and music by Richard Rodgers.-Origins:...

    (1979)
  • Once in a Lifetime
    Once in a Lifetime (play)
    Once in a Lifetime is a play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, the first of eight on which they collaborated in the 1930s.-Plot:The satirical comedy focuses on the effect talking pictures have on the entertainment industry...

    (1978 revival)
  • So Long, 174th Street
    So Long, 174th Street
    So Long, 174th Street is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and lyrics and music by Stan Daniels.Based on Stein's play Enter Laughing, which had been adapted from the Carl Reiner book of the same name and served as the basis for a 1967 film, it focuses on the journey of young David Kolowitz from...

    (1976)
  • Irene
    Irene (musical)
    Irene is a musical with a book by James Montgomery, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, and music by Harry Tierney.Based on Montgomery's play Irene O'Dare, it is set in New York City's Upper West Side and focuses on immigrant shop assistant Irene O'Dare, who is introduced to Long Island's high society when...

    (1973 revival)
  • An Evening with Richard Nixon and... (1972)
  • The Happy Time
    The Happy Time
    The Happy Time is a 1952 movie directed by the award-winning director Richard Fleischer, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Robert Fontaine, which Samuel A. Taylor turned it into a hit play. A boy, played by Bobby Driscoll, comes of age in a close-knit French-Canadian family. The film...

    (1968)

  • Anya
    Anya (musical)
    Anya is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Guy Bolton and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest. As they had done with Song of Norway and Kismet , Wright and Forrest developed the musical score using themes written by a classical composer, in this case Sergei...

    (1965)
  • Tovarich
    Tovarich (musical)
    Tovarich is a 1963 musical play in two acts with book by David Shaw; music by Lee Pockriss and lyrics by Anne Croswell; based on the comedy by Jacques Deval and Robert E...

    (1963)
  • Romulus (1962)
  • Bravo Giovanni
    Bravo Giovanni
    Bravo Giovanni is a musical with a book by A. J. Russell, lyrics by Ronny Graham, and music by Milton Schafer. It is based upon the novel, "The Crime of Giovanni Venturi", by Howard Shaw ....

    (1962)
  • Irma La Douce
    Irma la Douce
    Irma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...

    (1960)
  • Shinbone Alley
    Shinbone Alley
    Shinbone Alley is a musical with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger. Based on archy and mehitabel, a series of New York Tribune columns by Don Marquis, it focuses on poetic cockroach Archy, alley cat Mehitabel, and her relationships with...

    (1957)
  • Bells Are Ringing
    Bells Are Ringing (musical)
    Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...

    (1956)
  • Me and Juliet
    Me and Juliet
    Me and Juliet is a musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and their sixth stage collaboration. The work tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running musical: assistant stage manager Larry woos chorus girl Jeanie behind the back of her electrician boyfriend, Bob...

    (1953)
  • Can-Can
    Can-Can (musical)
    Can-Can is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and a book by Abe Burrows. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre dance halls during the 1890s....

    (1953)
  • Two's Company (1952)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)
    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...

    (1949)
  • Call Me Mister
    Call Me Mister
    Call Me Mister is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to returning soldiers who expected to be addressed as civilians instead of by their military rank....

    (1946)


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