Tony and Oscar for the same role
January 29, 2006
We were watching Broadway's Lost Treasures this evening, and they mentioned that seven actors had won a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. Of course, I had to go look it up. At Broadway New York I found that they are:
Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergarac (Tony 1947, Oscar 1950),
Shirley Booth for Lola Delaney in Come Back, Little Sheba (Tony 1950, Oscar 1952),
Yul Brynner for the King of Siam in The King and I (Tony 1952, Oscar 1956),
Rex Harrison for Prof. Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (Tony 1957, Oscar 1964),
Anne Bancroft for Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (Tony 1960, Oscar 1962),
Paul Scofield for Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (Tony 1962, Oscar 1966), and Joel Grey as the Emcee in Cabaret (Tony 1967, Oscar 1972).
I was lucky enough, back in the late 70's and early 80's, to see revivals of the King and I and My Fair Lady with both Yul Brynner and Rex Harrison in their original roles. They were fantastic - the sort of performances where you could forget that there was anyone else on stage.
The King and I (movie version)
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