1. Haila Stoddard was an American actress, producer, writer and director.
22 Facts About Haila Stoddard
1. 2.
Haila Stoddard worked as a producer, both independently and with her production company, Bonard Productions Incorporated, which Haila Stoddard created with Helen Bonfils in 1960.
3.
The couple were divorced September 2,1947, and on November 8 Haila Stoddard married director-producer Harald Bromley with whom she had one child.
4.
In 1953 Haila Stoddard was hired as the leading lady for the Elitch Theatre summer stock cast and would play opposite leading man Whitfield Connor.
5.
Haila Stoddard divorced Bromley in 1954 and on January 26,1956, she and Connor married in New York City and the couple remained married until his death in 1988.
6.
Haila Stoddard arrived on Broadway in 1937, succeeding Peggy Conklin in Yes, My Darling Daughter.
7.
Haila Stoddard drafted a cookbook entitled Applause and produced a short-lived play called Dead Pigeon.
8.
Haila Stoddard starred in Joan of Lorraine, The Trial of Mary Dugan, and The Voice of the Turtle, Rip Van Winkle, Goodbye, My Fancy, and Her Cardboard Lover, Affairs of State, Springtime for Henry, Twentieth Century, Glad Tidings, and Biography, ten summer stock productions at Denver's Elitch Gardens Theatre, and The Frogs of Spring, a revival which she co-produced with husband Harold Bromley on Broadway.
9.
Haila Stoddard took over the leading role on opening night when illness struck Constance Ford in her own Broadway production of One Eye Closed, took over for Mary Anderson in Lunatics and Lovers in 1954, and directed the national touring production.
10.
Haila Stoddard played in Ever Since Paradise, Patate, and Dark Corners.
11.
Haila Stoddard produced her husband's plays The Clover Ring and Georgia Boy in Boston, and The Secret Room on Broadway.
12.
On television Haila Stoddard played Aunt Pauline from 1954 to 1970 on CBS-TV's The Secret Storm.
13.
Haila Stoddard was the first to bring the work of James Thurber and Harold Pinter to Broadway.
14.
Haila Stoddard produced A Thurber Carnival, a Tony Award-winning musical, her first production on Broadway, with Colorado heiress and friend Helen Bonfils.
15.
Haila Stoddard often had to handle tensions between the conservative Bonfils and flamboyant figures in entertainment, including Coward.
16.
In 1962, Haila Stoddard asked Andy Warhol to design costumes for Thurber's The Beast in Me, after learning of Warhol through choreographer John Butler.
17.
Haila Stoddard later offered Off-Broadway productions of Coward's Private Lives, co-producing with Mark Wright and Duane Wilder; Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky and The Gingham Dog, and The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, a musical by Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford which won three Obie awards.
18.
Haila Stoddard served as understudy to such acclaimed actresses as Bea Lillie, Greer Garson, Betty Field, Rosalind Russell, Uta Hagen, Mercedes McCambridge, and Jessica Tandy, in various stage productions.
19.
Haila Stoddard got her chance when Russell's replacement, Greer Garson, was indisposed after her first performance in the demanding part.
20.
When Hagen left the Broadway production to open the show in London, Haila Stoddard performed the role of Martha eight times a week until Mercedes McCambridge was ready to replace Hagen for the evening performances.
21.
Haila Stoddard simultaneously associated with Lucille Lortel to produce summer seasons at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut, was on the Board of Directors of New Dramatists in New York City, and a Founding Member of the Westport Theatre Artists Workshop.
22.
Haila Stoddard died at her home in Weston, Connecticut from cardiopulmonary arrest at age 97.