Otis Bigelow

Otis Munro Bigelow III (June 2, 1920 – October 6, 2007) was an American actor, playwright, stage manager, and theatrical agent whose career spanned Broadway, film, and regional theater from the early 1940s through the 1980s. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, he was the only child of Otis Munro Bigelow II, a professor of Romance languages at Phillips Exeter Academy, and Ruth Lillian Spalding. His father died in 1932 and his mother in 1937, after which his uncle Robert W. Keyes of Utica, New York, who had married his aunt Olivia Bigelow Keyes, became his guardian. His grandfather, Otis Munro Bigelow I, served as president of the Baldwinsville State Bank.

Bigelow attended Rumsey Hall School in Washington, Connecticut, before transferring in 1934 to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he performed lead roles in theatrical productions at the Old Farragut Playhouse in Rye Beach, New Hampshire. He entered Hamilton College in 1939, where he pursued an active campus life: he held lead roles in Charlatans productions, served as managing editor of The Continental and co-editor of Hamiltonews, sat on the Publications Board, belonged to Pi Delta Epsilon journalism fraternity and Theta Delta Chi fraternity, sang in the College Choir, and fenced under Coach Glas. Upon graduating in 1943, the college yearbook The Hamiltonian described him as the class's most diversified artist. While still at Hamilton, he wrote a play that producer John C. Wilson optioned for Broadway; Wilson invited Bigelow to return in 1942 to rewrite it.

Following graduation, Bigelow served as a U.S. Navy reservist during World War II, seeing active duty as an officer aboard minesweepers in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He was released in 1945 with the rank of lieutenant. His Broadway debut came when he was cast as the sailor in Dear Ruth. He also appeared in the London hit Red Letter and, in 1945, in Fifty-Fifty by Andrew Rosenthal at the Sayville Playhouse in Sayville, New York, starring Margaret Bannerman.

In 1947 Bigelow auditioned at Warner Brothers in Hollywood but was engaged instead as a screenwriter, collaborating with Robert Richards on One Sunday Afternoon, starring Dennis Morgan. The following year he traveled to Paris, where he took work in French films, including acting, translating, and writing English subtitles for productions featuring Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Pierre Aumont, and Gene Kelly. Back in New York, he concentrated on writing. To Dorothy, a Son, a play he co-wrote with Roger MacDougal, ran for more than a year in London under the direction of Herman Shumlin before transferring to Broadway in 1952, where it starred Ronald Howard, son of Leslie Howard.

After taking ballet lessons, Bigelow joined the Broadway cast of The King and I as a Siamese slave, remaining with the production for two years. In 1953 he joined Musical Americana, a touring dance group of twenty performers, completing a four-month tour covering 33 states and 25,000 miles. He subsequently spent a summer with the José Limón Company. In 1955 he joined the cast of The Teahouse of the August Moon, produced by Maurice Evans, playing the young Okinawan suitor of the geisha girl. In 1957 he appeared in Auntie Mame, starring Constance Bennett, in the role of the schoolteacher. Also in 1957, he appeared in the film Designing Woman, directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall, playing the role of a set designer.

Among Bigelow's written works, The Marriner Method was produced by Maurice Evans in 1957 on Broadway and subsequently in London and New York City in 1958. In the late 1950s he served as a resident company lead at the Cherry County Playhouse in Traverse City, Michigan, taking on a range of roles. In June 1959 he played the lead in The Drunkard; in July 1959 he appeared in The Happy Time, Dial M for Murder as Max Hollyday, and Post Road as Wesley Cartwright alongside ZaSu Pitts; in August 1959 he played Newman in Yes Man, starring television personality Jack Barry, and Tom MacKenzie in Seven Year Itch, starring Gene Raymond. In 1960 he appeared in productions including The Curious Savage with ZaSu Pitts, Noël Coward's Present Laughter as Morris Dixon alongside Reginald Gardiner, Who Was That Lady I Saw You With as Orlov with Julius LaRosa, The Golden Fleecing as Jackson Eldredge with Eddie Bracken, and Belvedere as Harry King opposite Charlie Ruggles. He also appeared in the San Juan Drama Festival in Puerto Rico that year. In 1961 he took the lead in Marriage-Go-Round at the Gretna Playhouse in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and later that year appeared in the Broadway production A Cook for Mr. General.

In 1965 Bigelow appeared in Never Too Late with Maureen O'Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey, a production that played on Broadway and subsequently in Palm Beach, Florida. Later in his career he transitioned into stage management for off-Broadway and summer tour productions, working on Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band in 1968 and with the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Bucks County Playhouse. He also served as a professor at Dartmouth College. Bigelow retired in 1984 and died on October 6, 2007.