Robert Downing

Actor, critic (Denver Post) and production manager who began a long show-business career in the 1930s, touring with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in "The Seagull", "Idiot's Delight" and "Amphitryon 38", as well as working for the Federal Theater and Federal Writers projects. By 1940 he was assistant stage manager for "There Shall Be No Night" on Broadway, and during World War II he managed and appeared in the stage productions of "Junior Miss" and "The Man Who Came to Dinner" for the USO Camp Shows. During that period he also appeared in "The Naked Genius" on the New York stage. By 1945 he was the production manager for an all-GI presentation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (produced by Maurice Evans) and, by 1947, "A Streetcar Named Desire". By the 1950s he managed "Seagulls Over Sorrento", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "The Tender Trap" and "Seventeen" for the stage. His last stage works were "Camelot" in 1960 and as production stage manager for the Repertory Theatre at Lincoln Center three years later. By 1970 he was named drama critic for the Denver Post, and he died at 61.