Alan Shayne
{{Infobox person
| name = Alan Shayne
| image =
| caption =
| birthname =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1925|11|21}}
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Casting director, actor, producer
| years_active = 1947–?
| spouse = Jacqueline Babbin (1947–1955)
Norman Sunshine (m. 2004)
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
Alan Shayne (born November 21, 1925) is an American casting director, actor, and producer.
Early life and career
Shayne was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 21, 1925. He started acting in theatre in the 1940s, where he encountered a young Marlon Brando in acting school.{{cite web|title=Upstaged by Marlon Brando|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/upstaged-by-marlon-brando|website=The New Yorker|access-date=18 October 2024|date=20 May 2023}} He appeared in the Broadway plays Antony and Cleopatra (1947–1948) and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1948–1950). In 1958, he was in the multiple Tony-nominated Broadway musical Jamaica.{{cite web|title=Alan Shayne|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/alan-shayne-78080|website=Internet Broadway Database|access-date=October 18, 2024}} Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in several television series such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Man Against Crime, and Kraft Television Theatre.{{cite web|title=ALAN SHAYNE: LIFE, LOVE AND THEATRE|url=https://ronfassler.medium.com/alan-shayne-life-love-and-theatre-19ce932f7eb0|website=Medium|access-date=18 October 2024|date=16 September 2023}} In 1953, he portrayed Bernardo in the TV film Hamlet.{{cite web|title=Big Hamlet Show Today Over WMCT|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/769998832|website=The Commercial Appeal|access-date=31 October 2024|date=26 April 1953}}
Having been encouraged by Michael Shurtleff, Shayne became a casting director in the 1960s. He recruited actors for films such as All the Way Home (1963), Johnny Belinda (1967), Catch-22 (1970), and All the President's Men (1976). In 1976, he became the president of Warner Bros. Television Studios, a position he held for ten years. He retired from the entertainment industry in the 1990s.{{cite web|title=Q&A: Memoir shares insight into life of film and TV guru Alan Shayne|url=https://eu.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/arts/2020/11/15/memoir-puts-spotlight-life-tv-guru-alan-shayne/6218973002/|website=The Columbus Dispatch|access-date=18 October 2024|date=15 November 2020}}
Personal life
Shayne served in the United States Army during World War II. Between 1947 and 1955, he was married to Jacqueline Babbin. In 2004, he married graphic designer and visual artist Norman Sunshine, who had won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design at the 28th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1976. He is openly homosexual. In 2023, he published his autobiography The Star Dressing Room: Portrait of an Actor.{{cite web|title=The Star Dressing Room|url=https://oldster.substack.com/p/the-star-dressing-room|website=Oldster Magazine|access-date=16 October 2024|date=17 July 2023}}
Television
| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes | |||
| 1950 | Masterpiece Playhouse | Episode: "Othello" | |
| 1950 | The Ford Theatre Hour | Donatello | Episode: "The Marble Faun" |
| 1950 | Lux Video Theatre | Joseph | Episode: "A Child Is Born" |
| 1951 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Kid | Episode: "Bulletin 120" |
| 1951–52 | Studio One | Ross/Joseph of Arimathea | Episodes: "Macbeth", "Pontius Pilate" |
| 1951–1957 | Kraft Television Theatre | Joseph/Unknown | Episodes: "Jane Eyre", "The Wren", "Justice", "A Child Is Born", "The Other Wise Man" |
| 1952 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Frederic Chopin | Episode: "Prelude" |
| 1952–53 | Man Against Crime | Bill Weaver/Abel Jackson | Episodes: "Paradise Lost", "A Family Affair" |
| 1953 | Hamlet | TV film | |
| 1965 | The Trials of O'Brien | Ned Wertimer | Episode: "No Justice for the Judge" |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0790153}}
- {{IBDB name|78080}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shayne, Alan}}
Category:American casting directors
Category:American stage actors
Category:American male television actors