Ulu Grosbard
Encyclopedia
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian
-born, naturalized
American
theatre and film director
and film producer
.
Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana
with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States
, where he earned Bachelor of Arts
and Master of Arts
degrees from the University of Chicago
. He studied then at the Yale School of Drama
for one year before joining the United States Army
, and he became a naturalized citizen in 1954.
Grosbard gravitated towards theatre when he relocated to New York City
in the early 1960s. After directing The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker
off-Broadway
, he earned his first Broadway
credit with The Subject Was Roses
, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play
in 1964. That same year he won the Obie Award
for Best Direction and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play
for an off-Broadway
revival of the Arthur Miller
play A View from the Bridge
, for which Dustin Hoffman
served as stage manager and assistant director
.
Grosbard's additional Broadway credits include Miller's The Price
; David Mamet
's American Buffalo
, which earned him Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations; Woody Allen
's The Floating Light Bulb
; and a revival of Paddy Chayefsky
's The Tenth Man.
In Hollywood, Grosbard worked as an assistant director on Splendor in the Grass
, West Side Story
, The Hustler
, The Miracle Worker, and The Pawnbroker
before helming the screen adaptation of The Subject Was Roses
on his own. Additional screen credits include Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
and Straight Time
, both with Dustin Hoffman; True Confessions
and Falling in Love, both with Robert De Niro
; Georgia
for which he won the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montréal World Film Festival
; and The Deep End of the Ocean
.
Grosbard has been married to actress Rose Gregorio
since 1965.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
-born, naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatre and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he earned Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degrees from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. He studied then at the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
for one year before joining the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, and he became a naturalized citizen in 1954.
Grosbard gravitated towards theatre when he relocated to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the early 1960s. After directing The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker
The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker
The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker is an American play by William Snyder. The work premiered Off-Broadway at the Sheridan Square Playhouse on September 17, 1962, closing on June 9, 1963 after 304 performances. The production was directed by Ulu Grosbard and used set and lighting designs by...
off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
, he earned his first 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...
credit with The Subject Was Roses
The Subject Was Roses
The Subject Was Roses is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play written by Frank D. Gilroy, who also adapted the work in 1968 for film with the same title.- Background :...
, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play
The Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...
in 1964. That same year he won the Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best Direction and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
for an off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
revival of the Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
play A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this...
, for which Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
served as stage manager and assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
.
Grosbard's additional Broadway credits include Miller's The Price
The Price (play)
The Price is a 1968 play by Arthur Miller. It is a piece about family dynamics, the price of furniture and the price of one's decisions. The play opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on February 7, 1968 where it played until the production moved to the 46th Street Theatre on November 18, 1968....
; David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's American Buffalo
American Buffalo (play)
American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet which had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two more showcase productions, it opened on Broadway on February 16, 1977...
, which earned him Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations; Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's The Floating Light Bulb
The Floating Light Bulb
The Floating Light Bulb is a 1981 Broadway play by Woody Allen. Semi-autobiographical, it focuses on a lower middle class family living in Canarsie, Brooklyn in 1945.-Plot:...
; and a revival of Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
's The Tenth Man.
In Hollywood, Grosbard worked as an assistant director on Splendor in the Grass
Splendor in the Grass
Splendor in the Grass is a 1961 romantic drama film that tells a story of sexual repression, love, heartbreak, and manic-depression, which the character Deanie suffers from...
, West Side Story
West Side Story (film)
West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,...
, The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
, The Miracle Worker, and The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker (film)
The Pawnbroker is a 1964 drama film, starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters and Jaime Sánchez and directed by Sidney Lumet. It was adapted by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin from the novel of the same name by Edward Lewis Wallant....
before helming the screen adaptation of The Subject Was Roses
The Subject Was Roses (film)
The Subject Was Roses is a 1968 American drama film directed by Ulu Grosbard. The screenplay by Frank D. Gilroy is based on his 1964 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same title.The film stars Patricia Neal, Martin Sheen and Jack Albertson...
on his own. Additional screen credits include Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? is an American comedy drama film released in 1971 directed by Ulu Grosbard and starring Dustin Hoffman. It portrays a single day in the life of Georgie Soloway, played by Hoffman...
and Straight Time
Straight Time
Straight Time is a 1978 film directed by Ulu Grosbard, starring Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates.-Plot summary:...
, both with Dustin Hoffman; True Confessions
True Confessions (film)
True Confessions is a 1981 film directed by Ulu Grosbard, loosely based on the Black Dahlia murder case of 1947. The film stars Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, was produced by Chartoff-Winkler Productions and is adapted from the novel of the same name by John Gregory Dunne.-Plot summary:In the...
and Falling in Love, both with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
; Georgia
Georgia (1995 film)
Georgia is a 1995 American independent film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham. In the film, Leigh played Sadie Flood, a punky barroom singer who has a complicated, jealous but loving relationship with her older sister, Georgia, played by Winningham. Georgia is a successful, talented...
for which he won the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montréal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
; and The Deep End of the Ocean
The Deep End of the Ocean (film)
The Deep End of the Ocean is an American motion picture drama directed by Ulu Grosbard, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Jackson and Ryan Merriman...
.
Grosbard has been married to actress Rose Gregorio
Rose Gregorio
Rose Gregorio is an American character actress. She began her career appearing mostly in theatre in Chicago and New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s she became more active in television and film, appearing mostly in supporting roles...
since 1965.