# José Ferrer

José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors—or, indeed, actors of any ethnicity—during his lifetime and after, with a career spanning nearly 60 years between 1935 and 1992. He achieved prominence for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the play of the same name, which earned him the inaugural Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1947. He reprised the role in a 1950 film version and won an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him both the first Hispanic and the first Puerto Rican–born actor to win an Academy Award.
His other notable film roles include Charles VII in Joan of Arc (1948), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge (1952), defense attorney Barney Greenwald in The Caine Mutiny (1954), Alfred Dreyfus in I Accuse! (1958), which he also directed; the Turkish Bey in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Siegfried Rieber in Ship of Fools (1965), and Emperor Shaddam IV in Dune (1984). Ferrer also maintained a prolific acting and directing career on Broadway, winning a second Best Actor Tony for The Shrike, and Best Director for The Shrike, The Fourposter, and Stalag 17, Additionally, Ferrer appeared numerous times in the works of Shakespeare, notably as Iago in Othello.
Ferrer was the father of actor Miguel Ferrer, the brother of Rafael Ferrer, the grandfather of actress Tessa Ferrer, and the uncle of actor George Clooney. His contributions to American theatre were recognized in 1981 when he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1985, he received the National Medal of Arts from President Reagan, becoming the first actor so honored.

## Early life

Ferrer was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Rafael Ferrer, a local attorney and writer, and María Providencia Cintrón, of Yabucoa. His parents were both of Spanish descent. He was the grandson of Gabriel Ferrer Hernández, a doctor and advocate of Puerto Rican independence from Spain. He had two younger sisters, Elvira and Leticia.
The family moved to New York in 1914, when Ferrer was two years old. He studied at the Swiss boarding school Institut Le Rosey. He was adept in several languages, including Spanish, English, French, and Italian.
In 1933, Ferrer completed his bachelor's degree in architecture at Princeton University, where he wrote his senior thesis on "French Naturalism and Pardo Bazán". Ferrer was also a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and played piano in a band, "José Ferrer and His Pied Pipers". Ferrer then studied Romance languages at Columbia University for 1934–35.

## Career
### Theatre

Ferrer's first professional appearance as an actor was at a "showboat" theater on Long Island in the summer of 1934.
In 1935, Ferrer was the stage manager at the Suffern Country Playhouse, operated by Joshua Logan, whom Ferrer had known at Princeton. Ruth Gordon and Helen Hayes recommended him to Jed Harris.
Ferrer made his Broadway debut in 1935 in A Slight Case of Murder which ran 69 performances.
He could also be seen in Stick-in-the-Mud (1935) and Spring Dance (1936). Ferrer's first big success was in Brother Rat (1936–38) which ran for 577 performances. In Clover only ran for three performances. How to Get Tough About It (1938) also had a short run, as did Missouri Legend (1938).
Mamba's Daughters (1939) ran for 163 performances. Ferrer followed it with Key Largo (1939–40) with Paul Muni and directed by Guthrie McClintic, which went for 105 shows and was later turned into a film.
Ferrer had a huge personal success in the title role of Charley's Aunt (1940–41), partly in drag, under the direction of Joshua Logan. It went for 233 performances.
Ferrer then replaced Danny Kaye in the musical Let's Face It! (1943).

### Theatre director and Cyrano

Ferrer made his debut on Broadway as director with Vickie (1942) in which he also starred. It only had a short run.
He played Iago in Margaret Webster's Broadway production of Othello (1943–44), which starred Paul Robeson in the title role, Webster as Emilia, and Ferrer's wife, Uta Hagen, as Desdemona. That production still holds the record for longest-running repeat performance of a Shakespearean play presented in the United States, going for 296 performances (it would be revived in 1945).
Ferrer produced and directed, but did not appear in, Strange Fruit (1945–46), starring Mel Ferrer (no relation).
Among other radio roles, Ferrer starred as detective Philo Vance in a 1945 series of the same name.

### Cyrano de Bergerac

Ferrer may be best remembered for his performance in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac, which he first played on Broadway in 1946. Ferrer feared that the production would be a failure in rehearsals, due to the open dislike for the play by director Mel Ferrer (no relation), so he called in Joshua Logan (who had directed his star-making performance in Charley's Aunt) to serve as "play doctor" for the production. Logan wrote that he simply had to eliminate pieces of business which director Ferrer had inserted in his staging; they presumably were intended to sabotage the more sentimental elements of the play that the director considered to be corny and in bad taste. The production became one of the hits of the 1946/47 Broadway season, winning Ferrer the first Best Actor Tony Award for his depiction of the long-nosed poet/swordsman.
On January 9, 1949, Ferrer made his television debut when he starred in The Philco Television Playhouse's one-hour adaptation of the play.
Ferrer directed, but did not appear in, As We Forgive Our Debtors (1947), which ran 5 performances. There was another short run for Volpone (1947) which Ferrer adapted and played the title role.

### Early films

Ferrer made his film debut in the Technicolor epic Joan of Arc (1948) as the weak-willed Dauphin opposite Ingrid Bergman as Joan. Ferrer's performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
At the City Center, he acted in revivals of Angel Street (1948) and The Alchemist (1948) and directed S. S. Glencairn (1948) and The Insect Comedy (1948) (also appearing in the latter).
Ferrer had another Broadway hit with The Silver Whistle (1948–49) which ran for 219 performances. He performed two shows for The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse on TV in 1949: Cyrano, playing the title role, and an adaptation of What Makes Sammy Run?, playing Sammy Glick (adapted by Paddy Chayefsky).
Ferrer returned to Hollywood to appear in Otto Preminger's Whirlpool (1950), supporting Gene Tierney, and Richard Brooks' Crisis (1950), opposite Cary Grant.

### Film stardom

Ferrer then played the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), directed by Michael Gordon and produced by Stanley Kramer. Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar, becoming the first actor to win the Oscar for the same role which won him the Tony. The film was widely seen although it lost money. Ferrer donated the Oscar to the University of Puerto Rico, and it was subsequently stolen in 2000.
Ferrer returned to Broadway for a revival of Twentieth Century (1950–51) which he directed and starred in, opposite Gloria Swanson; it went for 233 performances. Immediately following, he produced and directed, but did not appear in, Stalag 17 (1951–52), a big hit running for 472 performances. Even more popular was The Fourposter (1951–53) in which he directed Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy; it ran for 632 performances.
Ferrer returned to cinema screens in the comedy Anything Can Happen (1952), directed by George Seaton, where Ferrer played an immigrant.
More popular was Moulin Rouge (1952) in which Ferrer played the role of Toulouse-Lautrec under John Huston's direction. Ferrer received 40% of the profits as well as his third and final Oscar nomination.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer directed and starred in The Shrike (1952), which ran for 161 performances.
His next two shows were as director only: Horton Foote's The Chase (1952) only had a short run but My Three Angels (1953–54), went for 344 performances.
Ferrer had another cinema hit with Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) starring Rita Hayworth. Ferrer briefly revived some of his shows at the City Centre in 1953: Cyrano, The Shrike, Richard III, Charley's Aunt.
He returned to films with The Caine Mutiny (1954) for Kramer, co-starring with Humphrey Bogart and Van Johnson, playing defense lawyer Barney Greenwald; the film was a huge hit. Greenwald's Jewish faith, so prominent in the novel that it informed his judgments of the U.S.S. Caine's officers, was downplayed in the film, as Ferrer, being Puerto Rican, was nominally Roman Catholic.
Also popular was Deep in My Heart (1955) where Ferrer played Sigmund Romberg, and which made a profit of over $1 million.

### Film director

Ferrer made his debut as film director at Universal with an adaptation of The Shrike (1955), in which he also starred opposite June Allyson.
Ferrer then performed Cyrano in an episode of Producer's Showcase on television, directed by Mel Ferrer and co-starring Claire Bloom.
He went to England to star in and direct a war film for Warwick Productions, The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), alongside Trevor Howard; it was a success at the British box office.
Ferrer co-wrote, directed and starred in the film The Great Man (1956), at Universal. He directed and starred in two films for MGM: I Accuse! (1958), where he played Captain Alfred Dreyfus, and The High Cost of Loving (1958) a comedy with Gena Rowlands. Both flopped at the box office.
Back on Broadway, Ferrer co-wrote and directed the stage musical Oh, Captain! (1958) with Tony Randall, which only had a short run. He directed and starred in Edwin Booth (1958), playing the title role; it was not a success.
In 1958, Ferrer narrated the children's album Tubby the Tuba, which was nominated for the Best Recording For Children at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards.
Ferrer took over the direction of the troubled musical Juno (1959) from Vincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over from Tony Richardson. The show, which starred Shirley Booth, folded after 16 performances and mixed to extremely negative critical reaction.
However, he followed it directing the original stage production of Saul Levitt's The Andersonville Trial (1959–60), about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamous Civil War prison. It was a hit and featured George C. Scott, running for 179 performances.
Around this time, Ferrer also appeared in television in episodes of General Electric Theater and The United States Steel Hour.

### 20th Century Fox

Ferrer signed a contract with 20th Century Fox to direct films. He made Return to Peyton Place (1961) and State Fair (1962), both of which were commercial disappointments.
Ferrer had a key support role in the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962) which was a huge success. Although Ferrer's performance was only small he said it was his best on screen.
At Fox, he played an investigating police officer in Nine Hours to Rama (1963). He also guest starred on The Greatest Show on Earth.
Ferrer returned to Broadway to star in Noël Coward's musical The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963–64) which ran for 112 performances.
He narrated the first episode of the popular 1964 sitcom Bewitched, in mock documentary style.
Ferrer went to Germany to make Stop Train 349 (1963) with Sean Flynn. He appeared in the 1964 French film Cyrano et d'Artagnan directed by Abel Gance.
Back in Hollywood, Ferrer played Herod Antipas in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and was in Ship of Fools (1965) for Stanley Kramer.
A notable performance of his later stage career was as Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in the hit musical Man of La Mancha. Ferrer took over the role from Richard Kiley in 1966 and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show. Tony Martinez continued in the role of Sancho Panza under Ferrer, as he had with Kiley.
Ferrer starred in Carl Reiner's Enter Laughing (1967) and did a production of Kismet (1967) on TV. He went to Europe to do Cervantes (1967) and appeared in A Case of Libel (1968) for US TV. He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed in the 1968 Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special The Little Drummer Boy. In 1968 the IRS sent him a tax bill of $122,000 going back to 1962.

### 1970s

Ferrer appeared in the television films The Aquarians (1970), Gideon (1971) and Crosscurrent (1971) and guest-starred on The Name of the Game and Banyon.
Ferrer directed The Web and the Rock (1972) on stage in New York and appeared in The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973), Orson Welles Great Mysteries (1973), and Columbo.
Around 1973, he narrated A Touch of Royalty, a documentary on the life and death of Puerto Rico's baseball star Roberto Clemente. Ferrer voiced both versions, Spanish and English.
Ferrer voiced a highly truncated cartoon version of Cyrano for an episode of The ABC Afterschool Special in 1974.
Ferrer appeared in The Missing Are Deadly (1975), Forever Young, Forever Free (1975), Order to Assassinate (1975), Medical Story (1975), The Art of Crime (1975), Truman at Potsdam (1976) (playing Stalin), The Big Bus (1976), Paco (1976)., Voyage of the Damned (1976), Crash! (1976), The Sentinel (1977), Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (1977), Exo-Man (1977), Who Has Seen the Wind (1977), The Rhinemann Exchange, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977), Fedora (1978) from Billy Wilder, The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978) (in the title role), and The Swarm. He guest starred on Starsky and Hutch and Tales of the Unexpected.
During the Bicentennial, Ferrer narrated the world premiere of Michael Jeffrey Shapiro's A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and orchestra with Martin Rich leading the Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester.
Ferrer was a replacement cast member in a production of David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre (1977–78). He produced and starred in White Pelicans (1978) and directed Carmelina (1979) on stage but it only ran 17 performances.
He was in The Fifth Musketeer (1979), The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979), Natural Enemies (1979), The French Atlantic Affair (1979), A Life of Sin, a 1979 film by Puerto Rican director Efraín López Neris which also starred Raul Julia, Míriam Colón and Henry Darrow, and Battles: The Murder That Wouldn't Die (1980). He did The Merchant on stage in Canada.

### 1980s

In 1980, he had a role as future Justice Abe Fortas in the made-for-television film version of Anthony Lewis' Gideon's Trumpet, opposite Henry Fonda in an Emmy-nominated performance as Clarence Earl Gideon.
He also appeared in Battle Creek Brawl (1980), Pleasure Palace (1980), The Dream Merchants (1980), Magnum, P.I., Evita Peron (1981), Berlin Tunnel 21 (1981), Peter and Paul (1981) with Anthony Hopkins, Bloody Birthday (1981), Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) (a classy yet somewhat antagonistic university professor/author whose booming voice both begins and ends the film), Blood Tide (1982), Blood Feud (1982), This Girl for Hire (1983), The Being (1983) and Mel Brooks's version of To Be or Not to Be (1983).
From 1982 to 1985, he was artistic director of the Coconut Grove Theatre in Miami.
He guest-starred on Quincy, M.E., Another World, Fantasy Island, Hotel, The Love Boat, Bridges to Cross, and Murder, She Wrote.
Ferrer was in The Evil That Men Do (1984), Samson and Delilah (1984), and George Washington (1984). He was the Emperor in Dune (1984) and was in Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil (1985), Seduced (1985), Covenant (1985), Blood & Orchids (1986), Young Harry Houdini, and The Wind in the Willows (1987).
Ferrer made his farewell to Cyrano by performing a short passage from the play for the 1986 Tony Awards telecast.
Although not the original actor to play the character, Ferrer, beginning in the third season, had a recurring role as Julia Duffy's WASPy father in the long-running television series Newhart in the 1980s.
In an interview given in the 1980s, he bemoaned the lack of good character parts for aging stars, and admitted that he now took on roles mostly for the money, such as his roles in the horror potboilers The Swarm, in which he played a doctor, and Dracula's Dog, in which he played a police inspector.
Ferrer's final performances include The Sun and the Moon (1987), American Playhouse ("Strange Interlude" with Kenneth Branagh), Mother's Day (1989), Matlock, Hired to Kill (1990), Old Explorers (1990) and The Perfect Tribute.
He was cast in a Broadway play Conversations with My Father (1991) but withdrew due to poor health.

### Legacy

* Ferrer was the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.
* In 2005, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) renamed its Tespis Award to the HOLA José Ferrer Tespis Award.
* Ferrer was honored for his theatrical and cinematic works with an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and a National Medal of Arts, becoming the first actor and Hispanic to be presented with the prestigious award.
* Ferrer's sons Rafael Ferrer and Miguel Ferrer, his daughter (Letty Ferrer), and his granddaughter Tessa Ferrer also became actors and actresses.
* Ferrer donated his Academy Award to the University of Puerto Rico. The award was stolen after being misplaced during the remodeling of the university's theater.
* On April 26, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp in Ferrer's honor in its Distinguished Americans series.

## Personal life

Ferrer was married five times and had six children:
* Uta Hagen (1938–1948): Ferrer and Hagen met while playing summer stock in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1938. They had one child, Leticia (born October 15, 1940). They divorced in 1948, partly due to Hagen's long-concealed affair with Paul Robeson, with whom Hagen and Ferrer had co-starred in the Broadway production of Othello.
* Phyllis Hill (1948–1953): Ferrer and Hill wed on May 27, 1948, and they moved to Burlington, Vermont in 1950. Ferrer returned to Puerto Rico because his mother died. They divorced on January 12, 1953.
* Rosemary Clooney (1953–1961): Ferrer first married Clooney on July 13, 1953, in Durant, Oklahoma. They moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1954, and then to Los Angeles in 1958. Ferrer and Clooney had five children in quick succession: Miguel (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017), Maria (born August 9, 1956), Gabriel (born August 1, 1957), Monsita (born October 13, 1958) and Rafael (born March 23, 1960). They divorced for the first time in 1961.
* Rosemary Clooney (1964–1967): Ferrer and Clooney remarried on November 22, 1964, in Los Angeles; however, the marriage again crumbled because Ferrer was carrying on an affair with the woman who would become his last wife, Stella Magee. Clooney found out about the affair, and she and Ferrer divorced again in 1967.
* Stella Magee (1977–1992): They remained together until his death in 1992.
Through his marriage to Clooney, Ferrer was the uncle of actor George Clooney, the father-in-law to singer Debby Boone and actress Leilani Sarelle, and the grandfather of actress Tessa Ferrer.

## Death

Ferrer died of colorectal cancer in Coral Gables, Florida, on January 26, 1992, 18 days after his 80th birthday, and was interred in Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in Old San Juan in his native Puerto Rico.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1948 | Joan of Arc | The Dauphin, Charles VII | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1950 | Whirlpool | David Korvo | |
| 1950 | The Secret Fury | José | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Crisis | Raoul Farrago | |
| 1950 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Academy Award for Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor |
| 1952 | Anything Can Happen | Giorgi Papashvily | |
| 1952 | Moulin Rouge | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor |
| 1953 | Miss Sadie Thompson | Alfred Davidson | |
| 1954 | The Caine Mutiny | Lt. Barney Greenwald | Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor |
| 1954 | Deep in My Heart | Sigmund Romberg | |
| 1955 | The Shrike | Jim Downs | Also director |
| 1955 | The Cockleshell Heroes | Major Stringer | Also director |
| 1956 | The Great Man | Joe Harris | Also director |
| 1957 | Four Girls in Town | Director | Also director |
| 1958 | I Accuse! | Capt. Alfred Dreyfus | Also director |
| 1958 | The High Cost of Loving | Jim "Jimbo" Fry | Also director |
| 1961 | Return to Peyton Place | Voice of Mark Steele | Also director, uncredited |
| 1962 | State Fair | | Director |
| 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Turkish Bey | |
| 1963 | Nine Hours to Rama | Supt. Gopal Das | |
| 1963 | Stop Train 349 | Cowan the Reporter | |
| 1964 | Cyrano et d'Artagnan | Cyrano de Bergerac | |
| 1965 | The Greatest Story Ever Told | Herod Antipas | |
| 1965 | Ship of Fools | Siegfried Rieber | |
| 1967 | Enter Laughing | Mr. Harrison B. Marlowe | |
| 1967 | Cervantes | Hassan Bey | |
| 1975 | Forever Young, Forever Free | Father Alberto | Aka: e'Lollipop |
| 1975 | El clan de los immorales | Inspector Reed | |
| 1976 | Paco | Fermin Flores | |
| 1976 | The Big Bus | Ironman | |
| 1976 | Voyage of the Damned | Manuel Benitez | |
| 1976 | Crash! | Marc Denne | |
| 1977 | The Sentinel | Priest of the Brotherhood | |
| 1977 | Who Has Seen the Wind | The Ben | |
| 1977 | The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover | Lionel McCoy | |
| 1978 | Dracula's Dog | Inspector Branco | |
| 1978 | Fedora | Doctor Vando | |
| 1978 | The Swarm | Dr. Andrews | |
| 1979 | The French Atlantic Affair | | |
| 1979 | The Fifth Musketeer | Athos | |
| 1979 | The Concorde ... Airport '79 | Chief Superintendent Morabito | (TV version), Uncredited |
| 1979 | Natural Enemies | Harry Rosenthal | |
| 1980 | The Dream Merchants | | |
| 1980 | The Big Brawl | Domenici | |
| 1981 | Bloody Birthday | Doctor | |
| 1982 | A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy | Leopold | |
| 1982 | Blood Tide | Nereus | |
| 1982 | And They Are Off | Martin Craig | |
| 1983 | The Being | Mayor Gordon Lane | |
| 1983 | To Be or Not to Be | Prof. Siletski | |
| 1984 | The Evil That Men Do | Dr. Hector Lomelin | |
| 1984 | Dune | Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV | |
| 1987 | The Sun and the Moon | Don Fulhencio | |
| 1990 | Hired to Kill | Rallis | |
| 1990 | Old Explorers | Warner Watney | |

## Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1953 | Producers' Showcase: | Cyrano de Bergerac | Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac" Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor – Single Performance |
| 1964 | Bewitched | Narrator | 3 episodes |
| 1967 | Kismet | Hajj | TV Film |
| 1968 | The Little Drummer Boy | Ben Haramad | Voice, Television Special |
| 1974 | Columbo | Dr. Marshall Cahill | Episode: "Mind Over Mayhem" |
| 1976-8 | Starsky & Hutch | Crazy Joe Fortune | 3 episodes |
| 1977 | The Rhinemann Exchange | Erich Rhinemann | Mini-series |
| 1978 | The Return of Captain Nemo | Captain Nemo | Mini-series |
| 1979 | Tales of the Unexpected | Carlos | Episode: "The Man from the South" |
| 1979 | The French Atlantic Affair | President Aristide Brouchard | Mini-series |
| 1980 | The Dream Merchants | George Pappas | Mini-series |
| 1981 | Peter and Paul | Gamaliel | Mini-series |
| 1981 | Magnum, P.I. | Robert Caine | Episode: "Lest We Forget" |
| 1981-86 | The Love Boat | Simon Beck/Deke Donnor | 3 episodes |
| 1982 | Quincy, M.E. | Dr. Stanley Royce | Episode: "Ghost of a Chance" |
| 1983 | Fantasy Island | Nikolos Karavatos | Episode: "Random Choices/Mommy the Mood Swinger" |
| 1984 | George Washington | Robert Dinwiddie | Mini-series |
| 1985-87 | Newhart | Arthur Vanderkellen | 6 episodes |
| 1985 | Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil | Ludwig Rosenberg | TV Film |
| 1986-91 | Matlock | Nicholas Baron | 3 episodes |
| 1987 | The Wind in the Willows | Badger | Voice, TV Film |
| 1988 | Sesame Street | Tío José | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Maniac Mansion | Himself | Episode: "The Celebrity Visitor" |

## Theater Credits

| Date | Title | Role | Director | Producer | Playwright | Notes |
| September 11 – November 1935 | A Slight Case of Murder | 2nd Policeman | Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay | Howard Lindsay | Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay | Also Stage Manager |
| November 26 – December 1935 | Stick-in-the-Mud | Chauffeur | Thomas Mitchell | Jack Curtis and Carleton Hoagland | Frederick Hazlitt Brennan | |
| August 25 – September 1936 | Spring Dance | The Lippincot | Jed Harris | Jed Harris | Philip Barry | |
| December 16, 1936 – April 23, 1938 | Brother Rat | Dan Crawford | George Abbott | George Abbott | John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe | |
| October 13–15, 1937 | In Clover | Frederick L. Parsons | Bretaigne Windust | John Krimsky and Jerrold Krimsky | Allan Scott | |
| February 8 – February 1938 | How to Get Tough About It | Vergez | Guthrie McClintic | Guthrie McClintic | Robert Ardrey | |
| September 19 – October 1938 | Missouri Legend | Billy Gashade | Guthrie McClintic | Guthrie McClintic and Max Gordon | E.B. Ginty | |
| January 3 – May 1939 | Mamba's Daughters | St. Julien DeC. Wentworth | Guthrie McClintic | Guthrie McClintic | DuBose Heyward and Dorothy Heyward | |
| November 27, 1939 – February 24, 1940 | Key Largo | Victor D'Alcala | Guthrie McClintic | The Playwrights' Company | Maxwell Anderson | |
| October 17, 1940 – May 3, 1941 | Charley's Aunt | Lord Fancourt Babberley | Joshua Logan | Day Tuttle and Richard Skinner | Brandon Thomas | |
| February 28 – March 20, 1943 | Let's Face It! | Jerry Walker | Edgar MacGregor | Vinton Freedley | Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter; Book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields | Replacement for Danny Kaye |
| September 22 – October 31, 1942 | Vickie | George Roberts | José Ferrer and Frank Mandel | Frank Mandel | Sig Herzig | |
| October 19, 1943 – July 1, 1944 | Othello | Iago | Margaret Webster | Theatre Guild | William Shakespeare, adapted by Margaret Webster | |
| May 22 – June 10, 1945 | Othello | Iago | Margaret Webster | Theatre Guild | William Shakespeare, adapted by Margaret Webster | Revival |
| November 26, 1945 – January 16, 1946 | Strange Fruit | N/A | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Lillian Smith | |
| October 8, 1946 – March 22, 1947 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Mel Ferrer | José Ferrer | Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker | Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play Adapted for The Philco Television Playhouse in 1949 and as Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950 |
| March 9–16, 1947 | As We Forgive Our Debtors | N/A | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Tillman Breiseth | |
| January 8–18, 1948 | Volpone | Volpone | Richard Barr | New York City Theatre Company | Ben Jonson, adapted by José Ferrer, Richard Barr, and Richard Whorf | Co-adapter |
| January 22 – February 1, 1948 | Angel Street | Mr. Manningham | Richard Barr | New York City Theatre Company | Patrick Hamilton | |
| May 6–16, 1948 | The Alchemist | Jeremy/Face | Morton DaCosta | New York City Theatre Company | Ben Jonson | |
| May 20–30, 1948 | S.S. Glencairn | N/A | José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Eugene O'Neill | Collection of the one-act plays In the Zone, Bound East for Cardiff, The Long Voyage Home, and The Moon of the Caribbees |
| Jun 3–12, 1948 | The Insect Comedy | Felix, Yellow Commander | José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek, adapted by Owen Davis | |
| November 24, 1948 – May 28, 1949 | The Silver Whistle | Oliver Erwinter | Paul Crabtree | Theatre Guild | Robert E. McEnroe | |
| December 24, 1950 – June 30, 1951 | Twentieth Century | Oscar Jaffe | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur | Ferrer stepped down from the lead role on June 2 and was replaced by Robert Preston from June 4–30 |
| May 8, 1951 – June 21, 1952 | Stalag 17 | N/A | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski | Tony Award for Best Director |
| October 24, 1951 – May 2, 1953 | The Fourposter | N/A | José Ferrer | The Playwrights' Company | Jan de Hartog | Tony Award for Best Director |
| January 15 – May 31, 1952 | The Shrike | Jim Downs | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Joseph Kramm | Adapted as The Shrike in 1955 Tony Award for Best Director Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play |
| April 15 – May 10, 1952 | The Chase | N/A | José Ferrer | José Ferrer | Horton Foote | |
| March 11, 1953 – January 4, 1954 | My Three Angels | N/A | José Ferrer | Saint Subber, Rita Allen, and Archie Thomson | Bella and Samuel Spewack | |
| November 11–22, 1953 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker | Adapted for Producers' Showcase in 1956 |
| November 25 – December 6, 1953 | The Shrike | Jim Downs | Joseph Kramm and José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Joseph Kramm | |
| December 6–20, 1953 | Richard III | Richard III of England | Margaret Webster | New York City Theatre Company | William Shakespeare | |
| December 22, 1953 – January 4, 1954 | Charley's Aunt | Lord Fancourt Babberley | José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Brandon Thomas | |
| January 5, 1954 – January 16, 1955 | The Fourposter | N/A | José Ferrer | New York City Theatre Company | Jan de Hartog | |
| February 4 – July 19, 1958 | Oh Captain! | N/A | José Ferrer | Howard Merrill and Theatre Corporation of America | Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans; Book by José Ferrer and Al Morgan | Adapted from The Captain's Paradise Nominated – Tony Award for Best Musical |
| November 24 – December 13, 1958 | Edwin Booth | Edwin Booth | José Ferrer | José Ferrer and The Playwrights' Company | Milton Geiger | Also understudied Ian Keith as Junius Brutus Booth |
| March 9–21, 1959 | Juno | N/A | José Ferrer | The Playwrights' Company, Oliver Smith, and Oliver Rea | Music and Lyrics by Marc Blitzstein; Book by Joseph Stein | |
| December 29, 1959 – June 1, 1960 | The Andersonville Trial | N/A | José Ferrer | William Darrid, Eleanore Saidenberg, and Daniel Hollywood | Saul Levitt | |
| December 8, 1963 – March 14, 1964 | The Girl Who Came to Supper | Grand Duke Charles | Joe Layton | Herman Levin | Music and Lyrics by Noël Coward; Book by Harry Kurnitz | |
| November 22, 1965 – June 26, 1971 | Man of La Mancha | Cervantes | Albert Marre | Albert W. Selden and Hal James | Music by Mitch Leigh; Lyrics by Joe Darion; Book by Dale Wasserman | Replacement for Richard Kiley on Broadway, May 28 – June 9, 1966 National Tour Sep 24, 1966 – Apr 09, 1967 Replacement for David Atkinson on Broadway, April 11 – July 13, 1967 Replacement for Richard Kiley on National Tour July 15 – August 7, 1967 Replacement for Richard Kiley on National Tour September 23, 1968 – September 13, 1969 |
| March 9, 1975 | A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan | Himself | Donald Saddler | Friends of the Theatre & Music Collection of the Museum of the City of New York | N/A | |
| April 8–21, 1979 | Carmelina | N/A | José Ferrer | Roger L. Stevens, J. W. Fisher, Joan Cullman, Jujamcyn Theaters, and Whitehead-Stevens | Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner; Book by Alan Jay Lerner and Joseph Stein | |
| June 22, 1987 | Happy Birthday, Mr. Abbott! | Himself | Fritz Holt | Barry Brown | N/A | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Results |
| 1948 | Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Joan of Arc | Nominated |
| 1950 | Academy Awards | Best Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac | Won |
| 1952 | Academy Awards | Best Actor | Moulin Rouge | Nominated |
| 1954 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Foreign Actor | The Caine Mutiny | Nominated |
| 1957 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | The Great Man | Nominated |
| 1950 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Cyrano de Bergerac | Won |
| 1958 | Grammy Awards | Best Recording for Children | "Tubby the Tuba" | Nominated |
| 1950 | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac | Nominated |
| 1951 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Best Actor | Best Actor | Nominated |
| 1956 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Best Actor – Single Performance | Producers' Showcase | Nominated |
| 1947 | Tony Awards | Best Actor in a Play | Cyrano de Bergerac | Won |
| 1952 | Tony Awards | Best Actor in a Play | The Shrike | Won |
| 1952 | Tony Awards | Best Director | The Fourposter / The Shrike / Stalag 17 | Won |
| 1958 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Oh, Captain! | Nominated |