Cris Alexander
{{Short description|American actor (1920–2012)}}
{{distinguish|Chris Alexander (disambiguation){{!}}Chris Alexander}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cris Alexander
| image = CrisAlexanderPic.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Alan Smith
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|1|14}}
| birth_place = Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|3|7|1920|1|14}}
| death_place = Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Actor
- singer
- dancer
- designer
- photographer}}
| years_active = 1938–1969
| website =
| awards =
}}
Cris Alexander (born Allen Smith, January 14, 1920 – March 7, 2012) was an American actor, singer, dancer, designer, and photographer.
Early life and education
Cris Alexander was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1920. He began using the name Christopher, which he thought more distinguished, in his teens. On the advice of a spiritualist, he removed the "h" and went by Cris from then on.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/arts/cris-alexander-actor-and-photographer-dies-at-92.html|title=Cris Alexander, Actor and photographer, Dies at 92|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=March 24, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 7, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}
Alexander attended the University of Oklahoma while working as a radio announcer in Oklahoma City.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0fbSlGN8uUC&q=biographical+dictionary+women+american+theater|title=The Gay & Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures in American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era|last1=Harbin|first1=Billy J.|last2=Marra|first2=Kim|last3=Schanke|first3=Robert A.|date=2005|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=047206858X|pages=24|language=en}} He moved to New York City in 1938 to study at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art.{{cite web|url=http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/cris-alexander|title=Cris Alexander|work=The Official Masterworks Broadway site|access-date=August 14, 2013}}
Acting
Alexander was cast as Chip, a naive sailor, in the original Broadway cast of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town in 1944. He performed the song "Come Up to My Place" in a duet with Nancy Walker in the role of Hildy. He returned to Broadway in 1946 in Present Laughter opposite Clifton Webb.
In 1953, Alexander was cast in Wonderful Town, another Bernstein musical, with Rosalind Russell. He played drugstore manager Frank Lippencott, performing the comic song "Conversation Piece." Alexander stayed with the musical for its entire run. He moved next into performances for Auntie Mame, again with Russell. Among the multiple roles he played in the original Broadway production, Cris Alexander repeated his part of store manager Mr. Loomis for the 1958 film version also titled Auntie Mame.
Alexander's last acting role was in Lanford Wilson's 1966 play The Madness of Lady Bright. He continued to be involved in theatrical productions and created projection slides for the 1970 production of Richard Rodgers's Two by Two.
Photography
File:Ethel Merman 1956.JPG taken by Cris Alexander in 1956]]
Alexander also had a career as a photographer, and opened a photo studio in the late 1930s when he first moved to New York City. He was noted for his portraits of celebrities and performers, many of whom were his personal friends. He worked as chief photographer at Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, and as the official photographer for the New York City Ballet.
He contributed hundreds of original and altered photographs to two of Patrick Dennis's best selling books. Little Me, a mock biography documenting the life of fictional actress Belle Poitrine, features more than 150 of Alexander's photographs. It featured photos of his partner Shaun O'Brien, and would become a camp classic. Alexander also wrote the novel's preface. Dennis's First Lady: My Thirty Days at the White House told the story of Martha Dinwiddie Butterfield, wife of a fictional robber baron president.
Personal life
Alexander became involved with New York City Ballet dancer Shaun O'Brien in the 1940s, beginning a relationship that would last nearly 60 years. The couple retired to upstate New York in 1993, and married in 2011 when same-sex marriage became legal in New York State. Cris Alexander died in Saratoga Springs in 2012.
Film roles
- The Littlest Angel (1969) – Raphael
- Auntie Mame (1958) – Mr. Loomis
- Wonderful Town (1958) TV – Frank Lippencott
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0018322}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- [https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/cris-alexander?all/all/all/all/0 Cris Alexander] at the International Center of Photography
- [http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saratogian/obituary.aspx?n=cris-alexander&pid=156468251 Obituary]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Cris}}
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male stage actors
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Category:American gay musicians
Category:American LGBTQ photographers
Category:LGBTQ people from Oklahoma
Category:Artists from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Category:Male actors from Tulsa, Oklahoma