John McMartin

John McMartin
McMartin in July 2011
Born	John Francis McMartin (1929-08-21)August 21, 1929 Warsaw, Indiana, U.S.
Died	July 6, 2016(2016-07-06) (aged 86) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956–2015
Spouse(s)	Cynthia Baer (m. 1960; div. 1971)
Partner(s)	Charlotte Moore
Children	2

John Francis McMartin (August 21, 1929 – July 6, 2016) was an American actor of stage, film and television.

McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana on August 21, 1929 and raised in Minnesota. After graduating from high school McMartin joined the United States Army and became a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division He attended Columbia College Chicago, but did not graduate and he later attended college in New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, opposite Eileen Brennan and Elmarie Wendel. He won a Theatre World Award for his role as Corporal Billy Jester, and married one of the show's producers, Cynthia Baer, in 1960; they divorced in 1971.

His first Broadway appearance was as Forrest Noble in The Conquering Hero in 1961, which was followed by Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He created the role of Oscar in Sweet Charity in 1966, opposite Gwen Verdon, garnering a Tony nomination, and played the role again in the 1969 film opposite Shirley MacLaine. He was reportedly cast in Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1962, but his role was cut before the show opened.

He later starred in the original Broadway production of Sondheim's Follies opposite Alexis Smith in 1971 as Benjamin Stone, introducing the ballad "The Road You Didn't Take". His association with Sondheim has continued, appearing in A Little Night Music as Frederick at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, in 1991. The reviewer for the Orange County Register (California) wrote that the actor was "aggressively deadpan as her rediscovered old flame ..." He appeared in the Broadway revival of Into the Woods in 2002, in the dual role of the Narrator/Mysterious Man.