Joseph Hardy, well-known theater director of the original off-Broadway, Broadway, and West End productions of 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown', died on Thursday, June 6. He was 95.
Primary Stages, an off-Broadway theater group, confirmed his death, which had not been widely publicized at first.
Hardy, born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, attended Yale School of Drama on Mar. 8, 1929, and started his show business career as a script editor for soap operas in New York. He worked actively with small theaters before leaving a lasting impression on the off-Broadway scene with the 1967 production of 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown' at Theater 80 St. Marks in Manhattan's East Village.
In the 1960s, he produced two daytime soap operas for television: 'A Time for Us' on ABC and 'Ben Jarrod' on NBC. He was the executive producer of 'Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,' 'Ryan's Hope,' and 'General Hospital.' He also served as the executive producer of the NBC primetime drama 'James at 15/16.'
In 1967, he received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director for 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,' and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 1969 for 'Child's Play.' His 1974 film 'Great Expectations' was selected at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975.
His other Broadway credits include 'Johnny No-Trump' (1967), 'Play It Again,' 'Sam' (1969), 'Bob and Ray - The Two and Only' (1970), 'Children! Children!' (1972), 'Gigi' (1973), and 'The Night of the Iguana' (1976).
Furthermore, Hardy directed his final Broadway romantic comedy play, 'Bernard Slade' in 1979, which starred Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins. He continued working off-Broadway until 2013 in Red Bull Theater's Lucille Lortel Theatre production of August Strindberg's 'Dance of Death.'
