![]() He appeared as a Mystery Guest and was a panelist on the What's My Line? quiz show. Reilly kept active in Broadway shows but he became better known for his TV work, appearing regularly on television in the 1960s. For originating the role of Cornelius Hackl, Reilly received a second nomination for a Tony Award for performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical. In 1964, Reilly was in the original cast of Hello, Dolly!, another successful Broadway show. For his memorable origination of the role of Bud Frump, Reilly earned a 1962 Tony Award for featured actor in a musical. In 1961, Reilly was in the original cast of another Broadway show, the Pulitzer prize-winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In the groundbreaking musical, Reilly had a small onstage part, and was Dick Van Dyke's understudy/replacement for the leading role. His big break came in 1960 with the enormously successful original Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie. Reilly appeared in many Off Broadway productions. He was a regular performer in comic roles for several summer seasons in the 1950s at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Reilly made his film debut with an uncredited role in A Face in the Crowd (1957), directed by Elia Kazan, although most of his early career was spent on the stage. ![]() ![]() He was good friends with opera singers Renée Fleming, Rod Gilfry, Roberta Peters, and Eileen Farrell. He directed opera productions for the Chicago Opera Theater, Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. However, opera remained a lifelong passion, and he was a frequent guest on opera-themed radio programs, including the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. He entered the Hartt School of Music as a voice major, but abandoned this pursuit when he realized that he lacked the natural vocal talent to have a major career. Reilly developed a love of opera and wanted to become an opera singer. ![]() As he often stated on The Tonight Show and other such venues, that even as the director of a play or stage production he preferred to sit at the back of the house or the back of a balcony near the exits to preview his work, including one time where his leading lady's costume caught fire (but on recounting this episode to Johnny, Reilly assured him "but you know, these things always work out okay"). Because of the event's trauma, he rarely attended theater, stating that the large crowds reminded him of what happened that day. Īt age 13, he survived the 1944 Hartford circus fire which killed 167 people in Connecticut, and he was afraid to sit in an audience ever again after that. When young, he would amuse himself by creating puppet theater, and his mother often told him to "save it for the stage". Reilly was born January 13, 1931, in New York City in the Bronx, to an Irish-Catholic father and a Swedish Lutheran mother. ![]()
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