Jim Brochu (born August 16, 1946) is an American
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
,
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
,
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
, and
playwright. Born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, Brochu studied at
Carnegie-Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
and received his B.A. from
St. Francis College. His stage debut was in a production of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...
''. A friend of
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
, he is the author of the
unauthorized biography
An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...
of
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
, titled ''Lucy in the Afternoon'', and in this capacity, appeared on an episode of ''
MythBusters''.
He co-wrote the musical ''The Big Voice: God or Merman'' with
Steve Schalchlin.
Brochu wrote and starred
Off-Broadway in ''
Zero Hour'' from 2009–2010, for which he won the
Drama Desk
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fol ...
[Gans, Andre]
"Red, Memphis, Bridge, Fences and La Cage Win Drama Desk Awards"
playbill.com, May 23, 2010 award for Outstanding Solo Performance. Zero Hour is a
one-person play about the life and career of actor and comedian
Zero Mostel.
Biography
Jim Brochu is the only actor in America to win the New York Drama Desk Award, the Washington, DC Helen Hayes Award, the Los Angeles Ovation Award and the South Florida Carbonell Award as Best Actor in a Play, the play in question being ''Zero Hour'' about the actor/painter
Zero Mostel.
Brochu spent much of 2008 in New York City, starring in his
Off-Broadway play, ''The Big Voice: God or Merman?'' which the ''New York Times'' called, "Triumphant - a hilarious and utterly enthralling evening of musical theatre." In 2005, he was nominated by the Los Angeles Ovation Awards as Best Actor in a Musical for ''The Big Voice'', an honor he won from both the Palm Springs Desert Star Awards and the Valley Theatre League ADA Awards. ''The Big Voice: God or Merman?'' was also given the
Ovation Award
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...
as Best Musical, presented to himself and composer-partner, Steve Schalchlin, by the legendary
Jerry Herman
Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre.
One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricist ...
.
A native of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, Brochu produced his first show, a charity revue featuring the Bay Ridge neighbourhood kids, at the age of thirteen and four years later was working on Broadway - selling orange drink at the back of the
St. James Theatre during intermissions of ''
Hello, Dolly!'' After studying drama at
Carnegie-Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, where one of his classmates was
Stephen Schwartz, he returned to New York, got his BA in English from St. Francis College (Brooklyn) and made his Broadway debut (on stage at Town Hall) as Christopher Sly in a very bad revival of ''The Taming Of The Shrew.'' His off-Broadway credits include Berkeley Square with Christopher Reeve at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Robert Lowell's ''Endicott And The Red Cross'' at the American Place Theatre, Ephraim Kishon's ''Unfair To Goliath'' at the Cherry Lane, ''Skye'' at Lincoln Center and Frank Loesser's ''Greenwillow'' for the Equity Library Theatre.
While working as a stage actor, he appeared in two legendary television commercials - first as a dancing raisin for Post Raisin Bran and then as the "Lemon from Outer space" with Madge the Manicurist for Palmolive. His television work includes regular stints as Father James on ''
All My Children'', Judge Julius Weyburn on ''
The Young and The Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...
'', Officer Jerry Chandler on ''
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' is an American satirical soap opera that aired in daily weeknight syndication from January 1976 to July 1977. The series follows the titular Mary Hartman, an Ohio housewife attempting to cope with various bizarre ...
'' and the befuddled bailiff on NBC's ''
Sirota's Court'' with
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine (born Gus Efstratiou (Ευστρατίου); May 22, 1927 – August 31, 2021) was an American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula ...
. He made his motion picture debut in ''
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
''The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight'' is a 1971 American crime comedy film directed by James Goldstone and written by Waldo Salt, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Jimmy Breslin, which in turn was based on the life of gangster Joe ...
'' opposite another newcomer,
Robert De Niro. His acting career has taken him to regional stages all over the United States, including the Washington Theatre Club in D.C., the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, two seasons at the Goodspeed Opera House where he originated the role of Flint in ''Something's Afoot'', Theatre Building Chicago, Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, the Trinity Arts Center in Dallas and the DejaVu Theatre in Los Angeles where he won the Backstage West Award as Best Actor for his performance as Marvin in
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and honorable authority figures, he is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations.
Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparke ...
's ''T-Shirts''.
While playing
Tevye
Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman ( yi, טבֿיה דער מילכיקער, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and various adaptations of th ...
in ''
Fiddler on the Roof'' at the Waldo Astoria Dinner Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri he wrote his first play, ''
Cookin' With Gus'', which was published by
Samuel French
Samuel French (1821–1898) was an American entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays.
Biography
French foun ...
. It has since been performed across the United States and has been translated into several languages for productions around the world. A huge hit in Quebec, Canada, it was taped in French by HBO. One play led to another and soon Brochu was writing full-time. For the theatre, he has written the comedies ''The Lucky O'Learys'' with
Kathleen Freeman
Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1923August 23, 2001) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost in ...
, ''Fat Chance'' with Virginia Capers, ''The Lady Of The House'' with
Rue McClanahan
Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress and comedian best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on '' Maude'' (1972–78), Aunt Fran Crowley on '' Mama's Family'' (1983–84), and Blanche ...
and the off-Broadway smash hit musical, ''
The Last Session'', which he also directed. After ''The Last Sessions New York run (for which he received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations), the show was named by the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' as one of the ten best plays of the 1998-1999 Los Angeles season, garnering him the Oscar Wilde Award and the GLAAD Media Award. Brochu won another Backstage West Award for his direction of the show, along with the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Award as playwright.
In 1988 Brochu got a call from his idol,
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
, who had read ''The Lucky O'Learys'' and thought it would be perfect for herself and
Audrey Meadows
Audrey Meadows ( Cotter, February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. She was the younger sister of ...
. By the time he finished writing the pilot for 20th Century Fox, however, Ball was not up to doing the project and it never developed. However, Ball and Brochu formed a close friendship that resulted in them spending almost every afternoon together until she died in 1989. Brochu chronicled Ball's life as she told it to him in his book, ''Lucy In The Afternoon'', published by William Morrow and named as an alternate selection by The Literary Guild Book Club.
Brochu lives in New York, where, between theatrical assignments, he travels on cruise ships around the world lecturing about Broadway, Hollywood and the stars with whom he has worked.
He is a member of the
Dramatists Guild
The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market.
Membership as an Associate Member is open to any person having written at least one stage play. Active Mem ...
, the
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
,
Actors Equity
The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...
Association and has been called by the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' a true "Man Of The Theatre". He has toured ''Zero Hour'', in which he portrays
Zero Mostel; one Los Angeles critic called it the best performance of the 2006 season. ''Zero Hour'' was also awarded the Best Play of 2006 by the L.A. Ovations. His caricature hangs on the wall of
Sardi's
Sardi's is a continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City. Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927. It is known for the carica ...
restaurant in New York.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
Official site"Jim Brochu at the Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brochu, Jim
1946 births
Carnegie Mellon University alumni
Male actors from New York City
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male stage actors
St. Francis College alumni
Living people