Paul Ryan Rudd
Encyclopedia
Paul Ryan Rudd was an American
actor
, director, and a professor
. He appeared as the title character in a 1976 production of Shakespeare's Henry V
, opposite Meryl Streep
as his love interest. Though best known for his live theatre performances, such as those on Broadway
and the New York Shakespeare Festival
, he also appeared in the 1978 film The Betsy
and on television in the 1975 short-lived series Beacon Hill as Brian Mallory, the scheming Irish chauffeur.
and later Assumption Preparatory School
, graduating in 1958. He obtained a degree in psychology
from Fairfield University
.
Originally named Paul Kenneth Rudd, he adopted Ryan as his middle name from his mother’s maiden name, whose name had become Kathryn Rudd after marriage. He studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood but parted with mutual consent from his seminary. At some point, he married Joan Mannion, who he later divorced.
by Peter Nichols
. His name was in the credits of the 1975 revival of The Glass Menagerie
as the Gentleman Caller. In 1976, he starred as Billy, the tortured young soldier, in David Rabe Streamers
in the original theatre cast. That year, he also played the title role of Henry V
with the New York Shakespeare Festival
opposite of Meryl Streep
as Katherine
, who he marries in the play. He played in Theodore Mann
Romeo and Juliet
in the part of Romeo, with Pamela Payton-Wright
as Juliet in 1977. In 1979, he starred as Scooper in Bosoms and Neglect
.
In 1975, he played Brian Mallory in the short-lived television series Beacon Hill. In 1977, he portrayed John F. Kennedy
in the NBC
TV movie Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye. He went on to appear in The Betsy
, the 1978 film based on the Harold Robbins
novel.
Rudd married his second wife, Martha Bannerman, in 1983. They eventually had three children: Graeme, Kathryn and Eliza. During this time, Rudd held guest roles in several television shows, including Hart to Hart
, Moonlighting
, Knots Landing
and Murder, She Wrote
. In 1986, Rudd retired early from acting to raise his children, moving his family from Los Angeles
to Greenwich, Connecticut
.
from 1999 to 2006.
Rudd came briefly out of retirement for a 2000 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
, playing the double role of Oberon and Theseus–perhaps inspired by a production of the same play he saw at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre while visiting London.
Starting in 2004, Rudd was also a teaching faculty member and associate director of the MFA drama program at the New School for Drama until his death.
He died in his home in Greenwich, Connecticut
at the age of 70 from pancreatic cancer
.
, while reviewing Romeo and Juliet
, wrote in The New York Times
:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director, and a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
. He appeared as the title character in a 1976 production of Shakespeare's Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
, opposite Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
as his love interest. Though best known for his live theatre performances, such as those 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...
and the New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
, he also appeared in the 1978 film The Betsy
The Betsy
The Betsy is a 1978 film made by the Harold Robbins International Company and released by Allied Artists. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Robert R. Weston and Emanuel L. Wolf with Jack Grossberg as associate producer. The screenplay was by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, adapted...
and on television in the 1975 short-lived series Beacon Hill as Brian Mallory, the scheming Irish chauffeur.
Early life
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 15, 1940. He attended Boston Latin SchoolBoston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States....
and later Assumption Preparatory School
Assumption Preparatory School
Assumption Preparatory School was an American secondary boarding school located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and operated by the Catholic order Augustinians of the Assumption...
, graduating in 1958. He obtained a degree in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from Fairfield University
Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...
.
Originally named Paul Kenneth Rudd, he adopted Ryan as his middle name from his mother’s maiden name, whose name had become Kathryn Rudd after marriage. He studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood but parted with mutual consent from his seminary. At some point, he married Joan Mannion, who he later divorced.
Acting career
Rudd worked in entertainment from 1967 through 1986, variously as actor or as director, both on and off-Broadway. He landed his first significant Broadway role in 1974 as Ken, the lobotomized motorcyclist, in The National HealthThe National Health
The National Health is a play by Peter Nichols. Reminiscent of the Carry On film series, this black comedy with tragic overtones focuses on the appalling conditions in an under-funded national health hospital, which are contrasted comically with a Dr...
by Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols FRSL is an English writer of stage plays, film and television.Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit in Singapore where he...
. His name was in the credits of the 1975 revival of The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
as the Gentleman Caller. In 1976, he starred as Billy, the tortured young soldier, in David Rabe Streamers
Streamers
Streamers is a play by David Rabe. After premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in 1975, the production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 21, 1976 at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where it ran for 478 performances...
in the original theatre cast. That year, he also played the title role of Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
with the New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
opposite of Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
as Katherine
Catherine of Valois
Catherine of France was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of Henry V of Monmouth, King of England, mother of Henry VI, King of England and King of France, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of...
, who he marries in the play. He played in Theodore Mann
Theodore Mann
Theodore Mann, birth name Goldman, is an American theatre producer and director and the Artistic Director of the Circle in the Square Theatre School....
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
in the part of Romeo, with Pamela Payton-Wright
Pamela Payton-Wright
-Biography:Payton-Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Eleanor Ruth and Gordon Edgar Payton-Wright. She graduated from the Birmingham-Southern College in 1963. She began her television career in 1972 as Rhonda on Corky...
as Juliet in 1977. In 1979, he starred as Scooper in Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1979 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Productions:...
.
In 1975, he played Brian Mallory in the short-lived television series Beacon Hill. In 1977, he portrayed John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
TV movie Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye. He went on to appear in The Betsy
The Betsy
The Betsy is a 1978 film made by the Harold Robbins International Company and released by Allied Artists. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Robert R. Weston and Emanuel L. Wolf with Jack Grossberg as associate producer. The screenplay was by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, adapted...
, the 1978 film based on the Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins was one of the best-selling American authors of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages....
novel.
Rudd married his second wife, Martha Bannerman, in 1983. They eventually had three children: Graeme, Kathryn and Eliza. During this time, Rudd held guest roles in several television shows, including Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
, Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
and Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
. In 1986, Rudd retired early from acting to raise his children, moving his family from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
.
Later years
Later in life, Rudd taught at local middle schools and high schools – on the subjects of theater, especially Shakespeare, and poetry. He was part of the theatre faculty at Sarah Lawrence CollegeSarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
from 1999 to 2006.
Rudd came briefly out of retirement for a 2000 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, playing the double role of Oberon and Theseus–perhaps inspired by a production of the same play he saw at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre while visiting London.
Starting in 2004, Rudd was also a teaching faculty member and associate director of the MFA drama program at the New School for Drama until his death.
He died in his home in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
at the age of 70 from pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
.
Critical acclaim
Clive BarnesClive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
, while reviewing Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, wrote in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: