Biographie
Walter Willison is a Tony Award nominee, winner of a Theatre World Award and recipient of a Special William Inge Award. He is a true Renaissance man; an actor, singer, lyricist, writer, director and producer. He starred on Broadway in "Grand Hotel", "Two By Two", "Pippin", "Norman, Is That You?", "Wild and Wonderful", "A Celebration of Richard Rodgers", "A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan", "A Celebration of George Abbott", "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" at Madison Square Garden, "Anyone Can Whistle Live at Carnegie Hall"; Bernstein's "Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers", the Inaugural presentation of The Kennedy Center, "South Pacific: A 25th Anniversary Concert". Off-Broadway includes the title role in the first ever revival of Wright and Forrest's "Kean" at The York Theater, and he directed and starred as Noah opposite Pat Suzuki in The Jewish Repertory Theatre's "Two By Two: The Richard Rodgers' Centennial Concert". He starred as El Gallo in the historic First International Tour of "The Fantasticks" in Japan, directed by and costarring bookwriter/lyricist Tom Jones with composer Harvey Schmidt at the piano. Other notable stage appearances include "It's A Musical World: A Tribute to Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley" with Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse, Tony Bennett at The Hollywood Palladium; At the St. Louis Municipal Opera, he starred as Prince Charming in Walt Disney's "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" opposite Leslie Easterbrook, Perchik in "Fiddler On The Roof" with Herschel Bernardi, and Lancelot in "Camelot" with Tricia O'Neil and David Birney; numerous regional productions as Billy Bigelow in "Carousel" and Paul Bertholet in "Carnival", and the national tours of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" and "Your Own Thing".
Mr. Willison made his professional debut in the West Coast Premiere of Meredith Willson's "Here's Love" [aka "Miracle On 34th Street"] for The San Bernardino Civic Light Opera in 1964, followed by juvenile roles in The West Coast Premiere of "High Spirits" with Carolyn Jones, Mary Wickes and Adrienne Angel, "Bye Bye Birdie" with Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie, "The Boyfriend" with Juliet Prowse and Lee Roy Reams, "Half a Sixpence" with Kenneth Nelson, and the West Coast Premiere of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" with Tammy Grimes and John Cullum in LA and San Francisco.
Films include Mike Frankovich's Emmy Award-winning "Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women", for which he was personally selected by Irving Berlin to play Ziegfeld star Frank Carter and croon Berlin's classic "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody"; "Harry and Walter Go To New York", "The Initiation", "Somebody Help Me", "Edward II", and he wrote the lyrics [with music by Jeffrey Silverman] for the songs he sings in the cult classic "Fantasies" ["Once Upon a Love" in Europe, "Femme" in France, etcetera) starring Bo Derek, directed by John Derek.
On Television, he starred as Dr. Calvin Campbell in NBC's hit 1976-1977 series "McDuff, The Talking Dog", as Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" episode of Turnley Walker's "The Great Novelists" series on PBS, and as Dr. George "Buck" Wheaton on "Days of Our Lives". He appeared "The Tony Awards", "The Today Show", "The David Frost Show", "Celebrity Revue", "The Great NBC Smilin' Saturday Morning" TV special, hosted by Freddy Prinz; "The Dating Game", and numerous other variety and talk shows.
Walter has written and directed plays, musicals and nightclub acts across the US. He collaborated with Douglas Holmes on the book for the critically acclaimed 1997 revisal of Frank Loesser's "Greenwillow: The Musical Folktale" [which Variety heralded was "redeemed by its new book"], also directing the World Premiere at in Sarasota, Florida, subsequently produced at theatres including the Utah State Opera and in Branson, Mo.; wrote lyrics, with music by John Kroner, and collaborated with Douglas Holmes on the book for "Wonderful Life: The Musical" [based on Frank Capra's film], which has been performed at regional theaters around the US; adapted and directed Hal Hackady & Larry Grossman's "Minnie's Boys: The Marx Brothers Musical In Concert" for The Jewish Repertory Theatre, Off-Broadway; directed the West Coast Premiere of Kenward Elmslie & Claibe Richardson & Truman Capote's "The Grass Harp" starring Susan Watson [introducing a then-six-year-old Christina Applegate], and Your Own Thing at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre; wrote book & lyrics, directed and costarred in "Front Street Gaieties: Dodge City's Hottest Revue" also starring with Susan Watson and Charles Ward at The Mayfair Music Hall in Santa Monica, and Off-Broadway: "Broadway Scandals of 1928: the new speakeasy musical, also starring with Diane J. Findlay, Shelley Bruce, and Joanna Rush, both with music by Jeffrey Silverman, and "Options", starring with Julie Budd and Joanna Rush, also with lyrics and music by Willison and Silverman.
Mr. Willison was honored to collaborate with John Willis as Associate Editor for the books "Theatre World" #42, 43 and 44 and "Screen World" volumes #27, 38, 39 and 40. He served as Vice-President of Theater World Awards Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006. He directed "The 61st Annual Theatre World Awards" at Studio 54, starring such luminaries as Lucie Arnaz, John Cullum, Judy Kaye, Pat Suzuki, and "The 62nd Annual Theatre World Awards" at Studio 54, starring Lucie Arnaz, Harry Connick, Jr., Ralph Fiennes, Tammy Grimes, Harry Groener, Ken Page, John Rubinstein, and contributed special material for Liza Minnelli.
He has 29 recordings released on CD, as performer, producer, or both, including the Original Broadway cast recordings of "Two By Two", "Grand Hotel", "Broadway Scandals of 1928", "A Christmas Carol: The Musical", "Anyone Can Whistle: Live at Carnegie Hall", "Collette Collage", "Unsung Sondheim", "Lost in Boston I", "Lost in Boston II", "Unsung Irving Berlin"; Robert Wright & George Forrest's "Anastasia: The Musical and Premiere Recordings of Wright & Forrest Songs from 'Grand Hotel', 'At The Grand', 'Betting on Bertie' &' Kean' ", "A Bag of Popcorn and a Dream: an intimate bigscreen revue", "Beauty and the Beast: A Gothic Musical"; and he produced: "Marcia Lewis: Nowadays", Maltby & Shire's restored "Cyrano" & "The Grand Tour", and "Neva Small: My Place in the World". He contributed booklet notes for Martin Charnin's "Mata Hari", Bob Merrill's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", and Wright & Forrest's "ANYA".
In 1980, Mr. Willison joined forces with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Jerome Lawrence and Margaret Goheen to create The William Inge Festival which annually honors our greatest living American playwrights, composers & lyricists in Inge's hometown of Independence, Kansas. He wrote, directed and appeared in tributes to Jerome Lawrence, Robert Anderson, William Gibson and Garson Kanin, appeared in "Penn Avenue to Broadway: A 25 Year Retrospective", with Hal Linden in "To Life!: A Tribute to Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick". At IngeFest 28, with Barbara Dana in his play "William Inge-The Interview: A Play on Reality" [based on interviews with William Inge], and with Ms. Dana, Susan Watson, Rita Gardner, Martin Vidnovic, Elizabeth Wilson in "Remember & Celebrate: Honoring Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt", recipients of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in The American Theatre Award. In 2016 he starred with Marcy DeGonge Manfredi, John Schuck and Daisy Eagan in "The William Inge Festival 35th Anniversary Tribute" and wrote and directed "Splendor: A Tribute to the Oscars".
From 2016-2017 Mr. Willison served as Artistic Director of The Ziegfeld Society of New York City. In 2017 Mr. Willison conceived, wrote and directed "Ziegfeld Follies of the Air: The New 1934 Live from Broadway Broadcast Revue" at Birdland, starring with Liliane Montevecchi, Loni Ackerman, Shelly Burch, Carole Demas, and others; "The Unsinkable Tammy Grimes: A Musical Life in Revue" starring with Patricia Bosworth, Laura Kenyon, Chris Orbach, Lee Roy Reams, Steve Ross, Jane Summerhays and others; "We'll Take a Glass Together!: The Songs of Robert Wright & George Forrest" celebrating his 70th Birthday, starring with Karen Akers, Marcy De Gonge Manfredi, Heather Mac Rae, Lynnette Perry and Liliane Montevecchi, and in December 2017 he conceived, wrote, directed and costarred with Robert Cuccioli and Jim Dale in "Here's Love To The Music Man: A Celebration of Songwriter Meredith Willson".
He wrote and directed the acclaimed "Grand Hotel; The 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert", costarring with Liliane Montevecchi, Brent Barrett, Karen Akers and other fellow original cast members at 54 Below; directed Steve Ross & Karen Oberlin in "Cheek to Cheek: The Songs of Astaire & Rogers" and "The 32nd Annual Alec Wilder Tribute Concert" starring Klea Blackhurst and Karen Ziemba, also at 54 Below. In September, 2017, he appeared in his first solo nightclub act since 1978, "Walter Willison: Music In My Heart" at The Metropolitan Room, about which noted cabaret critic Sandi Durell praised "The expressive, sophisticated and natural Walter Willison, so capable when it comes to channeling emotions in every lyric. An extraordinary Broadway performer - an entertainer's entertainer."
Mr. Willison appears with a cast of Broadway Legends in Rick McKay's documentary "Broadway: Beyond The Golden Age" (2018). He wrote and directed "Blues, Ballads & Sin Songs: The Legend of Libby Holman" starring Lee Horwin with Joel A. Martin at the piano, which had its World Premiere at The Triad Theater in New York City on April 30th, 2018.
Most recently, Walter conceived, wrote, produced, and directed the critically acclaimed "Pippin: The 50th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert", starring with John Rubenstein, Joy Franz, Candy Brown, Cheryl Clark, Gene Foote, Will D. McMillan, Pamela Sousa, Aaron Lee Battle, and the legendary Leland Palmer, at 54 Below in February 2023, which also live-streamed. He is a guest star in Bruce Kimmel's series "Sami", starring Cindy Williams, on Amazon Prime.
Most recently, Mr. Willison has produced, conceived and directed the critically Grand Hotel: The 35th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert (2024), also costarring with fellow original cast members David Jackson, Ken Jennings, Timothy Jerome, Charles Mandracchia, Hal Robinson, Bob Stillman, David White. with special guests including Jennifer Bassey and Susan Wood-Duncan; and High Spirits: A 60th Anniversary Celebration of an Improbable Musical Comedy (2025), also costarring with Christine Andreas. Tony Award winner Judy Kaye, Ann Kittredge, and special guest star Adrienne Angel (from the original Broadway Cast). (Updated 4/2025)
