Ferrer, José [Vicente] (1912–92), actor and director. Born in Puerto Rico but educated in New York and at Princeton, the rather well‐built, heavy‐featured, rich‐voiced performer made his professional debut in 1934 in a series of melodramas performed on a show boat cruising Long Island Sound. Broadway first saw him as a policeman in
A Slight Case of Murder (1935), then he won critical attention in the roles of the gadfly Lippincott in
Spring Dance (1936) and the meddling cadet Dan Crawford in
Brother Rat (1936). Important supporting assignments followed as Jesse James associate Billy Gashade in
Missouri Legend (1938), the white St. Julien in the black drama
Mamba's Daughters (1939), and the poet Victor d'Alcala in
Key Largo (1939). Ferrer triumphed as Lord Fancourt Babberley in a revival of
Charley's Aunt (1940) and subsequently starred in two more highly praised revivals, playing Iago to Paul Robeson's Othello in 1943 and the title role in
Cyrano de Bergerac (1946). “His Cyrano,” Brooks
Atkinson noted, “has sardonic wit, a strutting style, a bombastic manner of speech and withal a shyness and modesty.” In 1948 Ferrer was appointed general director of the New York City Theatre Company at the
City Center, producing and appearing in
Volpone, Angel Street, a bill of
Chekhov one‐act plays,
The Alchemist,
S. S. Glencairn, and
The Insect Comedy. Other memorable performances of the period include Oliver Erwenter in
The Silver Whistle (1949), frantic producer Oscar Jaffe in a revival of
Twentieth Century (1950), and mental patient Jim Downs in
The Shrike (1952), a play he also produced and directed. In 1953 he revived the work at the City Center, also playing in revivals of
Charley's Aunt and
Richard III, and as the Prince Regent in
The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963). Thereafter, he appeared largely as replacements for original stars or in productions outside New York. He also directed and occasionally produced plays, including
Strange Fruit (1945);
Stalag 17 (1951);
The Fourposter (1951);
The Chase (1952);
My Three Angels (1953);
Oh, Captain! (1958), for which he was also co‐librettist; and
The Andersonville Trial (1959).
