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Director and actor Andre Gregory was born on May 11, 1934, into a family he describes as refugees from Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. His birth took place in a Paris hotel, where his mother had just finished playing cards with the Turkish ambassador. He spent his childhood in Hollywood among the stars of the 1940s. Gregory attended Harvard and later studied acting but struggled to find his footing in the profession. He ultimately found theatrical success as a director in avant-garde theater in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York. By the late 1960s, he had established himself as a leading figure in New York's experimental theater scene, collaborating with notable figures such as the renowned Polish director Jerzy Grotowski. A highlight of this phase in his career was in 1970 when his theater group, The Manhattan Project, staged "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in New York for a year. The production then toured internationally to acclaim, earning Gregory OBIE and Drama Desk Awards for directing.
In the early 1970s, Gregory experienced an existential crisis that brought his flourishing career to a pause. Five years later, as he began to emerge from this period of doubt and reflection, he shared his recent, often unusual experiences with friend Wallace Shawn, an actor and writer. (Gregory had met Shawn when Shawn attended every performance of the 1970 "Alice in Wonderland" production.) Shawn admired Gregory's thoughtful and humane recounting of this difficult period and recognized the comedic potential in their contrasting personalities. He proposed turning their conversations into a film. Collaborating with director Louis Malle, they produced My Dinner with Andre (1981), a unique, heartfelt, and humorous film experience in modern cinema.
The success of My Dinner with Andre ended Gregory's hiatus, and he returned to directing plays with his characteristically slow and meticulous approach, often working with a cast for a year or more before public performances. The film's exposure also jump-started the acting career that had previously eluded him, leading to roles in films such as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), as well as work on Broadway. His involvement with an acting troupe performing Uncle Vanya in a dilapidated Times Square theater was captured in Vanya on 42nd Street (1994), also directed by Malle in his final film. Interestingly, one of Gregory's first acting roles after My Dinner with Andre was in a 1983 PBS production of Alice in Wonderland.
A lifelong progressive, Gregory has increasingly dedicated himself to political causes. He was married for many years to Mercedes (Chiquita) Gregory, a prominent New York filmmaker and theater producer. After her passing, he married filmmaker Cindy Kleine. The couple now reside on Cape Cod.
