Bryant Haliday

Bryant Haliday (April 7, 1928 – July 28, 1996) was an American actor, stage and film producer, and co-founder of Janus Films. Born in the United States, he initially enrolled at Harvard to study law before redirecting his career toward the performing arts.

Haliday became a founding member of the Brattle Theatre Company, an American repertory ensemble modeled on England's Old Vic and based at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1948 he purchased the theater outright, and throughout the company's existence he both produced and performed in its productions. The Brattle Theatre Company dissolved in 1952, after which the venue transitioned into a movie house. Haliday retained ownership until 1966, when he sold the theater to Bramont Trust; his future business partner Cyrus Harvey, Jr. continued to manage it into the 1970s. During this period, Haliday also appeared on Broadway, taking a role in the 1950 production of The Relapse.

In 1956, Haliday and Harvey co-founded Janus Films, a distribution company that became a primary vehicle for bringing international cinema to American audiences. Haliday operated the 55th Street Playhouse in New York as a central exhibition venue for Janus releases, which included films by Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Michelangelo Antonioni.

By the 1960s, Haliday had accumulated sufficient wealth to pursue acting selectively, and he traveled to England to appear in several horror films produced by fellow New Yorker Richard Gordon. These included Lindsay Shonteff's Devil Doll (1964) and Curse of Simba (1964), followed by The Projected Man (1966) and Tower of Evil (1971).

By the mid-1970s, Haliday was semi-retired and living in France. During his final years he produced and appeared in French television and theater productions. He died in Paris on July 28, 1996.