George Hearn gets personal

Broadway actor George Hearn performs in Plattsburgh

Story by Christine Thompson
Photos courtesy of Jackie Murphy

Plattsburgh recently got a taste of the big apple through the collaboration of broadway actor George Hearn, with the Essex Theater Company. At the end of April, George Hearn starred, with his wife, in a musical production of South Pacific at Plattsburgh State University College (PSUC). Hearn has been in the broadway productions of The Wizard of Oz, Sweeney Todd, A Time for Singing, and Wicked, just to name a few. Hearn has been nominated for various awards over the course of his career. In 1995, he won a Tony for his role in Putting it Together.

Hearn was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He spent a large portion of his childhood growing up in Tennessee. He moved to New York City in 1963. Hearn started his career working in Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park. He did about 16 Shakespeare productions and said he has done about 32 shows of Shakespeare's 21 works. Throughout the years, Hearn has also lived in London, Los Angeles, and New York City to work on various theatrical projects.

Hearn didn't always want to see his name in lights. He graduated from Rhode's College, a small liberal arts school in Tennessee, with a degree in philosophy. Hearn wanted to be a minister, and at one point he even wanted to be a forest ranger, but became more actively involved in professional theater through different plays and musicals.

"If you want to be a good actor, it's the same thing as being a good carpenter or a good teacher or a good fisherman. It's just a craft and people let it go to their heads."

Hearn spent four years in L.A. acting in small roles for movies and doing cartoon voices, but didn't really enjoy it. His time in New York City and London consisted of working on big musicals like Sweeney Todd, I remember Mama, and Sunset Boulevard.

"I've been a lucky man. I've had a good career in theater. I'm raising two boys now with my wife of 22 years and I've kept my balance pretty well," Hearn said.

Hearn made the decision to retire in Essex, New York, based on the recommendation of a family friend about the area.

"I wanted to live in the country. I was fed up with living in cities," Hearn said. "I'm really concerned with environmental issues and [I] wanted to garden on my 50-acres of land with my family."

Semi-retired, as Hearn calls himself, he managed to still be actively involved with theater through the Essex Theater company. He talks with various theater arts classes at PSUC about the history of musical theory as well. Eventually, Derrick Hopkins, the director of South Pacific and affiliated with the Essex Theater Company, approached Leslie Hearn about working on South Pacific.

"The idea kind of just happened and it was wonderful. It was a really nice experience, as exciting as anything I've done in New York. Partly because I got to act with my wife on our 22nd anniversary," Hearn said.

The opportunity to work with an Emmy and Tony award winning actor didn't intimidate PSUC students.

"I wouldn't say there are pressures, but I think having him at rehearsals pushed us all to work harder to be our best," said Jackie Murphy, sophomore at PSUC and an actress in South Pacific.

While for many of the actors and actresses in South Pacific, this experience with Hearn is their first, Tyler Nye, another PSUC student from Keene Valley, has known Hearn for the past four years.

"I met George through the Essex County Theater Company and it has always been an enormous pleasure to work with him," Nye said.

This year Hearn was inducted into the acting hall of fame and has received various acting awards from fellow actors and actresses over the years.

"I've had a good career, but not a great one," Hearn said. "If you want to be a good actor, it's the same thing as being a good carpenter or a good teacher or a good fishermen. It's just a craft and people let it go to their heads. I've never thought of myself as a star, but just a good actor. It's been a gratifying experience."

"This show is good for them [the actors] and the community. Mediocrity was not an option."

Hearn talks modestly about his career, and more so boasts about his family life. He wants to spend his semi-retirement being dedicated to his family and occasionally involving himself in small projects.

In the next few months, Hearn will be working in Chicago on a show with the Chicago symphony, and traveling to Los Angeles to do a reading on a potential musical version of Grumpy Old Men, but mainly spending time with his family.

"I want to teach the boys to love the earth and love music and the arts. I take the boys to New York City and they get a different view of the world," Hearn said. "They need to see the city with all the museums, different languages and different races. The boys get really excited about the city and it pleases me that I can give them a different stimulus."

Hopkins and the actors who got to work with Hearn on South Pacific called it one of the most rewarding experiences of their life.

"He approaches his craft with precision and professionalism. Everyone enjoyed learning from their conduct," Hopkins said. "This show is good for them [the actors] and the community. Mediocrity was not an option."

What's your creative craft?

Shakespeare in the Park

This annual theater festival is held during the summer in New York City's Central Park Delacorte Theater. It's a free, public presentation of various William Shakespeare plays.

Shakespeare in the Park was founded by director and producer Joseph Papp in 1954. It started off as small Shakespeare workshops then grew to free productions on the lower East Side. In 1961, the Delacorte Theater was built and the first performance in the theater was held in 1962 with a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Over the years, the festival has attracted a fan base of New York City natives. Visitors of the area and Shakespeare enthusiasts. Big screen actors, like Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Martin Sheen, and Al Pacino were actors in a few of the productions.