In Memory of Actor/Playwright/ Librettist George Furth: 16 Years After His Tragic Death

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It's been 16 years since George Furth died at only 75 of a tragic lung infection on August 11, 2008 in Santa Monica. A Renaissance man in the truest sense of the term, Furth was a character actor, playwright, and librettist. He collaborated with everyone from Stephen Sondheim (directly) on the Tony Award-winning musical Company, to his friend Warren Beatty (in a consulting capacity), for the 1975 movie Shampoo, and later in 1998, for Bullworth. Furth's full list of big and small screen acting credits is extensive. This is his story.

A Closer Look

George Furth was born George Schweinfurth in Chicago on Dec. 14, 1932. After graduating from Harper High School on Chicago's Southside, Furth earned a degree in Speech from Northwestern University with a degree in speech, and did graduate work at Columbia. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1961 and his film debut three years later in Gore Vidal’s political drama The Best Man.

Furth, with a spastic performance persona and style simialr to actor Paul Lynde, was more often than not cast as the odd man out. His TV credits include The Defenders, The Monkees, McHale’s Navy, All in the Family, Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, The Nanny, and more more. Besides Shampoo, Furth's feature films include the groundbreaking Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and cutting-edge comedy Blazing Saddles (1974), among many others.

The Stage Was His World

As a playwright, George Furth found much success on Broadway including his 1971 play Twigs, feautring four related female characters (all played by Sada Thompson, later of TV's Family).

Seven years later, Furth penned the book for The Act, a musical by Kander and Ebb starring Liza Minnelli.

In 1981, his play, The Supporting Cast came and went, while the more intense family drama, Precious Sons, stuck around for some high critical praise in 1986.

Furth's best known productions were the result of his collaboration with Sondheim: the musicals Company and Merrily We Roll Along, and the mystery, Getting Away With Murder.

Company won a Tony for best musical in 1971, and Furth won that coveted Broadway award for his book. The show had two full Broadway revivals, the latest occuring in 2006.

In October 2023, Merrily We Roll Along re-debuted on Broadway with actors Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Menendez, and Daniel Radcliffe. It had a limited run, received seven Tony nominated, and won four: Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick); Featured Actor in a Musical (Radcliffe); Lead Actor in a Musical (Groff); and Revival of a Musical.

Conclusion

Just as with his on-camera appearances in countless TV shows and movies over the decades, George Furth lives on with his work on stage.