Henry Terry Duffy

Henry "Terry" Duffy lived from 1890 to 1961 during the heyday of American legitimate theater. He was a noted actor and theater producer appearing in over 1000 roles and producing more than 2000 plays. At one time he operated a theatrical empire consisting of nine theaters on the West Coast and a dozen acting companies on tour throughout America, Canada, and Australia. Henry Duffy was married and divorced twice, but his one real love was the stage. His first marriage was to the actress and playwright, Anne Nichols; most famous for her record-setting Broadway play "Abie's Irish Rose." His second wife, Dale Winter, appeared in hundreds of Henry's plays often starring opposite him. Henry Duffy was a key player during the years when legitimate theater struggled to survive against the competition of new entertainment forms such as motion pictures, radio, and television. He helped to keep the American stage alive through the Great Depression and World War Two as well, years when thousands of theaters (including many of his own) were forced to close their doors. Although little known today, Henry Duffy's name was synonymous with clean, witty, wholesome, reasonably priced entertainment in American from the 1920s through the 1950s. He associated with the likes of Flo Ziegfeld, Darryl F Zanuck, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, Joe E Brown, and numerous other icons of the Golden Age of stage and screen. This book presents the life of Henry Duffy with all its ups and downs, failures and successes, challenges and triumphs from when he first walked on stage as a boy at the Olympic Theatre in Chicago to his death at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles. Hopefully the reader will gain an appreciation for the many contributions made by this unsung hero to the American legitimate theater.