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Information about Harvey Fierstein

Harvey Fierstein
Birth nameHarvey Forbes Fierstein
BornMay 6 1952 (1952--) (age 55)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Died
Years active1980s – 2000s


Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6 1952 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American actor, playwright, and screenwriter.

Playwriting career

The gravelly-voiced actor perhaps is known best for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in. The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award, and the film earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Male Lead.

Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances. His other playwriting credits include Safe Sex, Spookhouse, and Forget Him.

Fierstein has developed a new musical titled A Catered Affair in which he will star with Faith Prince, Leslie Kritzer and Tom Wopat. It premiered at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre on September 20, 2007 and will move to Broadway in the spring of 2008, beginning previews on March 25 and opening officially on April 17.

Acting

Enlarge picture
Fierstein (left) with Anthony Rapp at the Annual Flea Market and Grand Auction hosted by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, September 26, 2006


Fierstein made his acting debut at La MaMa, E.T.C. in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. In addition to Torch Song Trilogy, and La Cage aux Folles, Fierstein's Broadway acting credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003), for which he won another Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (joining Tommy Tune as the only people to win the award in four different categories), and Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof.

Fierstein continued to appear at La MaMa and other venues but also, having some aspirations to become a painter, enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He received a B.F.A. degree from Pratt in 1973.

Fierstein's film roles include Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' maskmaker brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, a Parade of Hope spokesman in Death to Smoochy, Garbo Talks, Duplex, and the blockbuster hit Independence Day. He also narrated the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk and voiced the role of Yao in Walt Disney's Mulan (1998), a role he later reprised for the video game Kingdom Hearts II and the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II. On television, Fierstein was featured as the voice of Karl, Homer's assistant, in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons, and the voice of Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation. Additional credits include Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, the Showtime TV movie Common Ground (which he also wrote), and Cheers, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. On May 31 2006, her last day as anchor, he sang a tribute to Katie Couric on the Today Show. He appeared as Heat Miser in the television movie remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus in December 2006.

Preceded by
John Lithgow
for 		Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
2003
for Hairspray 		Succeeded by
Hugh Jackman
for The Boy From Oz

Other endeavors

Fierstein is an occasional columnist writing about gay issues. His careers as a stand-up comic and female impersonator are mostly behind him. Fierstein resides in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

External links

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This is a list of the recipients of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
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Cheers is a popular American situation comedy produced by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with CBS Paramount Television for NBC. Cheers was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles.
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Designed by Herman Rosse, 1949
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Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. An independent city until its consolidation into New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with nearly 2.5 million residents.
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Tony Award

Designed by Herman Rosse, 1949
Awarded for Excellence in theatre
Presented by American Theatre Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers
Country  United States
First awarded 1947
..... Click the link for more information.
Emmy Award

Emmy Award
Awarded for Excellence in television
Presented by ATAS/NATAS
Country  United States
First awarded 1949
“Emmy” redirects here.

..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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actor, actress, or player (see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity.
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A playwright, also known as a 'dramatist', is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance.
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Screenwriters, scenarists, or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. Many of them also work as "script doctors," attempting to change scripts to suit directors or studios; for instance, studio
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Torch Song Trilogy is a play by Harvey Fierstein. It comprises three acts - International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First!
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Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows.
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Tony Award

Designed by Herman Rosse, 1949
Awarded for Excellence in theatre
Presented by American Theatre Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers
Country  United States
First awarded 1947
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The Drama Desk Award, created in 1955, is an award recognizing shows produced off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, and for legitimate not-for-profit theaters, in addition to Broadway productions.
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The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor given annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance.

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Founded in 1984, the Independent Spirit Awards were originally known as the FINDIE Awards ("Friends of Independents") and presented winners with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films.
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La Cage aux Folles may refer to:
  • La Cage aux Folles (play), a 1973 French play.
  • La Cage aux Folles (film), a 1978 French-Italian film.
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