Alfred Lunt
Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway and West End productions. After their marriage, they nearly always appeared together. They became known as "the Lunts" and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Alfred Lunt
- Actor
- director
1912–1966
Although they appeared in classics including The Taming of the Shrew, The Seagull and Pygmalion, and dark comedy by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Lunts were best known for their stylish performances in light comedies by Noël Coward, S. N. Behrman, Terence Rattigan and others, and romantic plays by writers such as Robert E. Sherwood. Lunt directed some of the couple's productions, and staged plays for other managements. Though they rarely acted for the camera, The Lunts each received an Emmy Award and were nominated for an Academy Award.
The Lunts retired from the stage in 1960, and lived at their home in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Lunt died in 1977 and Fontanne in 1983.
Life and career[edit]
Early years[edit]
Alfred David Lunt Jr.,[n 1] was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 12, 1892, the son of Alfred David Lunt and his wife Harriet Washburn née Briggs.[3] Alfred senior was a prosperous lumberman and land agent.[n 2] He died in 1894, leaving more than $500,000 to his family. His widow, an eccentric and willful woman, gradually lost all the money, and the family moved to Waukesha, where they ran a boarding house.[1] From an early age, Lunt had a fascination with the theatre. He began acting in high school and at Carroll College in Waukesha. Considering a career as an architect,[3] he transferred to Emerson College, Boston, in 1912. His biographer Jared Brown writes that Lunt "rarely attended classes, having found a job as a minor actor and assistant stage manager with the Castle Square Theatre in Boston".[1] He made his first professional stage appearance there on October 7, 1912, as the Sheriff in The Aviator, and remained as a member of the stock company for two years.[3]
Cinema and broadcasting[edit]
The Lunts disliked acting for the camera and made only three films together.[31] One was The Guardsman (1931), for which they were both nominated for Academy Awards.[32] They appeared in Stage Door Canteen (1943) in which they had cameos as themselves. The two starred in four television productions in the 1950s and 1960s, with both Lunt and Fontanne winning Emmy Awards in 1965 for The Magnificent Yankee.[30]
Honors[edit]
In September 1964, Lunt and Fontanne were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson at a White House ceremony.[n 4] Both the Lunts were members of the American Theater Hall of Fame.[34] In 1947, Lunt was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Medal for Good Speech on the Stage.[35] He received honorary degrees from Carroll College, Dartmouth College, Beloit College, Emerson College, New York University, Yale University, and the University of Wisconsin.[3]
Media related to Alfred Lunt at Wikimedia Commons