1964 Tony Awards: ‘Hello, Dolly!’ wins a record 10 trophies including Best Musical

Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello, Dolly!” dominated the 18^th Tony Awards which took place at the New York Hilton on May 24, 1964. “Hello, Dolly!” entered the ceremony with 11 nominations and walked out with ten awards including best musical, best actress for Carol Channing, original score for Herman and for Gower Champion’s choreography and direction.

Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”

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Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.” This was the only acting nomination for Fosse, who won nine Tonys for choreography and direction. Jack Cassidy was named featured actor in a musical for “She Loves Me” and Tessie O’Shea received featured actress honors for ‘The Girl Who Came to Supper.” And speaking of “The Girl Who Came to Supper,” Coward and Harry Kurnitz were nominated for best book, while Coward was also a director nominee for “High Spirits.”

Carol Haney, who had won the Tony Award for featured actress in a musical nine years before for “The Pajama Game,” was nominated for her choreography for “Funny Girl.” Sadly, she died at the age of 39 just six weeks after “Funny Girl” opened and two weeks before the Tony Awards.

No drama swept the Tonys that year. In fact, no play received more than one Tony. The best play winner was John Osborne’s “Luther,” which examined the struggles of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (Albert Finney). Other nominees were Edward Albee’s “Ballad of the Sad Café,” Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” and Sidney Michael’s “Dylan.”

The legendary Alec Guinness won the Tony for lead actor as Dylan Thomas as “Dylan,” beating out Richard Burton in “Hamlet,” Jason Robards in “After the Fall,” and Finney in “Luther.” Lead actress went to Sandy Dennis for the comedy “Any Wednesday.” Hume Cronyn received featured actor for his role as Polonius in “Hamlet.”  One of the nominees in the category was little person Michael Dunn for “Ballad of the Sad Café.” The following year, he was one of stars of Stanley Kramer’s “Ship of Fools,” for which he was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar. Barbara Loden, who six years later would star, write, and direct the seminal feature film “Wanda,” received the featured actress Tony for Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.”

Mike Nichols won his first Tony Award for direction of a play for “Barefoot in the Park.”  One of the contenders for direction was June Havoc for “Marathon ’33,” her play about her experiences with dance marathons during the Depression. Havoc had come to fame as Baby June some 40 years earlier. Of course, her life, along with her older sister Gypsy Rose Lee, was the basis of the classic musical “Gypsy.” Though “Marathon ‘33” was not a hit, it received three Tony nominations. Besides Havoc, “Marathon” earned nominations for Julie Harris as lead actress and featured actor for Lee Allen.

The renowned Eva La Gallienne, who was celebrating her 50^th year as an actress, received a special Tony for her work with the National Repertory Theatre. Telecast in New York on WWOR-TV, the studded ceremony was hosted by Sidney Blackmer with Steve Lawrence and Robert Preston the show’s masters of ceremony. George Abbott, Lauren Bacall, Anne Bancroft, Harry Belafonte, Richard Burton, Barbara Cook, Sammy Davis Jr., Robert Goulet, Paul Scofield, Zachary Scott, and Gwen Verdon were among the presenters.

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