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Curt Hayward was born and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village, to a composer-arranger and a registered nurse; they were, in the 1950’s, one of NYC’s relatively early mixed couples.
Curt was raised during part of his childhood in NYC's first legal loft - an "AIR" living and working space (in a former garment factory), where NYC granted his father, Alonzo Levister, the city’s first "Artist-in-Residence" permission to live in a loft legally. After that, Robert Hooks (the father of Kevin Hooks) obtained an A.I.R.in the same building on West 19th Street in Chelsea, where Mr. Hooks ran his acting workshop while pursuing his acting career (e.g., "Hurry Sundown", "Naked City", and more). Later Curt grew up in NYC's Murray Hill.
Curt's first job on T.V. was singing with Oscar Brown Jr. on "The Ed Sullivan Show", and he subsequently had a role in the musical version of "Alice in Wonderland" at the Village's Sheridan Square Playhouse (subsequently "The Actors Playhouse").
Curt also had a role in the HB Playwrights Foundation staged reading production of "Caravaggio", playing opposite Austin Pendleton.
Curt has been acting, singing and directing at various times since age 5, notably at the Homestead Leadership Development Camp in Maine, where he was a camp counselor with James Remar, and directed James as "Fyedka" in "Fiddler On The Roof".
Curt acted, sang and danced throughout his education, including playing "Benny Southstreet" in "Guys and Dolls" for Stanford University's main musical performance group, "The Ram's Head", for which he received a notable review in The Palo Alto Times.
Curt's father was a third-stream classical, jazz, opera, musical theatre and pop composer who won a Clio award; he worked for Verve Records and Motown's Jobete publishing, and he worked closely with Oscar Brown Jr., numerous jazz greats such as Charlie Mingus, Miles Davis and numerous other jazz musicians. Curt grew up around them and many well-known actors, singers and choreographers, including Rip Torn and Geraldine Page.
Curt's "godfather" was James Baldwin, who was at the loft frequently, and Curt was close with the first Afro-American playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize, Charles (Chuck) Gordone.
