Some have been drawn east to Broadway’s stages. Others have headed west for the sound stages of Hollywood. But for many of the actors, actresses, directors, producers and writers who list Northwestern University on resumes, their roots go back to Annie May Swift Hall and theaters named Wallis and Struble.
It is on those stages at the Evanston campus that students have tested their acting mettle since the 1930s, when performance-oriented classes were established in the School of Oratory.
What sets a Northwestern performer apart from others? “Some schools stamp the student with a look or feeling,” says Bud Beyer, chair of Northwestern’s theater department. “Here, the students are encouraged to find out who they are so you end up with extremely independent, self-reliant citizens going into the theater.”
Today, 150 years after Northwestern was founded and more than 50 years after the birth of the performance classes, NU students are fueling the entertainment industry with talent. Beyer, who has been at the school for more than 25 years, has taught a number of them and has seen a few fall asleep in class (“They all fall asleep in class at some time,” he says).
He avoids predicting who will succeed in the business. “We’re often very surprised,” says Beyer. “You may have (a student who) studied very hard, but wasn’t very good, and the next year, they are on Broadway.”
On Broadway or in Hollywood, Northwestern’s performing talent has made its mark. With a deep bow to playwright John Guare, who wrote “Six Degrees of Separation,” and the collective memories of several Northwestern teachers, we have assembled a salute to some of the school’s most notable entertainers.
WHERE’S WILLIE?
NU’s mascot shows these alums not only have entertainment bonds but connected at school as well.
Jerry Orbach ’56
Gregg Edelman ’80
Orbach was Lumiere and Edelman was in the chorus for “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas” video.
Gregg Edelman ’80
Brad Hall ’80.
They did a barbershop quartet rendition of a ditty dubbed “Paper Walls” for the Waa-Mu variety show at NU.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus ’82
Brad Hall ’80
First came NU, then came marriage … and her guest appearance on her hubby-created TV show, “The Single Guy.”
Tony Roberts ’61
Julia Louis-Dreyfus ’82
Julia and Tony and “Hannah and Her Sisters.”
Karen Black ’61
Tony Roberts ’61
Roberts and Black sang a duet, “Don’t Make a Scene, in 1961’s Waa-Mu.
Richard Benjamin ’60
Karen Black ’61
Black played “The Monkey” while Benjamin was Alexander Portnoy in the film version of Philip Roth’s novel, “Portnoy’s Complaint.”
Shelley Long ’71
Richard Benjamin ’60
Benjamin directed Long in a goofy take on home repairs, “The Money Pit.”
Garry Marshall ’56
Shelley Long ’71
Long was known as “Dottie Wilcox” and Marshall played “Stan Lansing” when both paid a visit to TV’s “Murphy Brown.”
Warren Beatty ’59
Garry Marshall ’56
Those were “Happy Days” when Marshall and Beatty sang and danced their way through Waa-Mu’s silver jubilee show in 1956.
William Daniels ’50
Warren Beatty ’59
Beatty played a journalist in both “Reds” and “The Parallax View” which also featured Daniels.
Jerry Orcach ’56
Leigh Taylor-Young ’66
Taylor-Young and Orbach starred in the Jimmy Breslin-penned film, “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”
Charlotte Rae ’48
William Daniels ’50
Daniels starred in “St. Elsewhere” (with wife and fellow NU grad Bonnie Bartlett), while Rae showed up at the hospital as a guest star.
Leigh Taylor-Young ’66
Charlton Heston ’45
The year is 2022, soy and lentils are on the table and Heston and Taylor-Young are . . . you’ll have to watch the sci-fi film, “Soylent Green.”
Cloris Leachman ’48
Charlotte Rae ’48
Before “Facts of Life,” they had NU classes together and Waa-Mu.
Craig Bierko ’86
Cloris Leachman ’48
Leachman was Enid Powers and Bierko played Joe Bowman in recurring roles on TV’s “The Powers That Be.”
Charlton Heston ’45
Ann-Margaret ’63
Heston and Ann-Margret both had parts in the Oliver Stone-directed football film “Any Given Sunday.”
Ann-Margaret ’63
Marg Helgenberger ’82
Helgenberger played Blanche Du Bois in NU’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” while Ann-Margret played Blanche in an ’84 TV version; and both women did the TV miniseries, “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town.”
Marg Helgenberger ’82
Clancy Brown ’81
They kissed in an episode of “China Beach,” reprising an on-stage smooch in an NU production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Clancy Brown ’81
Laura Innes ’79
On “ER,” there was more than medical lingo passing between Innes’ Dr. Kerry Weaver and Brown’s Dr. Ellis West.
Laura Innes ’79
Harry Lennix ’86
Lennix played Dr. Greg Fisher to Innes’ Dr. Weaver on “ER.”
Harry Lennix ’86
David Schwimmer ’88
Schwimmer directed (and had a role in) the TV movie “Since You’ve Been Gone,” which also featured Lennix.
David Schwimmer ’88
George Newborn ’86
A “Friends” favorite and a friend of “Friends.”
George Newborn ’86
Kimberly Williams ’93
They smooched it up as the young couple in both “Father of the Bride” movies.
Kimberly Williams ’93
Dermot Mulroney ’85
At NU, Mulroney pledged Phi Gamma Delta while Williams pledged Alpha Phi.
Dermot Mulroney ’85
Megan Mullally ’81
Mullally was in “Queens Logic” with Linda Fiorentino, who did “Where the Money Is” with Mulroney.
Megan Mullally ’81
Richard Kind ’78
Before “Will & Grace,” Kind & Mullally were rockin’ to oldies with Kevin Bacon in the reunion movie, “Queens Logic.”
Richard Kind ’78
Fred Williamson ’60
Williamson was in “Dusk to Dawn” with George Clooney, who was best man at Kind’s real-life wedding.
Fred Williamson ’60
Jeri Ryan ’90
“Seven of Nine” and “First and Ten” beauty queen Ryan and ex-jock Williamson explored strange new universes in TV’s “Star Trek.”
Jeri Ryan ’90
Kate Shindle ’99
Shindle and Ryan are both beauty pageant veterans.
Kate Shindle ’99
Heather Headley ’97
“Aida” Nubian princess Headley and Miss America Shindle conquered Waa-Mu in 1995.
Heather Headley ’97
Craig Bierko ’86
Tony nominations this year honored “The Music Man’s” Bierko and “Aida’s” Headley.
POP QUIZ
There are enough connections among entertainers who studied at Northwestern University to fill a book. Or at least provide a few hours of dinner-time conversation. Here are a few brain teasers to get you started:
1. Which one of the following NU grads did not create soap operas for television?
a. Agnes Nixon
b. John Logan
c. Lee Phillip
2. Which one of the following couples did not meet at Northwestern and marry?
a. William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett
b. Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin
c. George Newbern and Kimberly Williams
d. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall
3. Gregg Edelman starred in a revival of the play “1776.” Which NU grad starred in the original?
a. Jerry Orbach
b. Tony Roberts
c. Tony Randall
d. William Daniels
4. Heather Headley made her mark on Broadway in “Aida.” Which NU alum also had a role in a version of “Aida”?
a. Sally Murphy
b. Grace Bumbry
c. Kate Fisher
5. The following former NU students went au naturel for magazines. Match the person and the magazine:
a. Cindy Crawford
b. Fred Williamson
c. Cloris Leachman
I. Alternative Medicine Digest.
II. Playgirl
III. W magazine
ANSWERS:
1. Logan was not a soap opera scribe; he wrote the screenplays for the movies “Any Given Sunday” and “Gladiator.” Nixon created “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” and Phillip, with husband Bill Bell, created “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
2. Newbern is married to another NU alum and actress, Marietta DePrima.
3. William Daniels
4. Grammy-winning opera star Bumbry was in a 1976 film version.
5. Cindy Crawford, III; Williamson, II; Leachman, I.
