Stanley Prager

Stanley Prager (January 8, 1917 – January 18, 1972) was an American actor, theatre director, and television director born in New York City. After three years at Johns Hopkins University, he transitioned into professional performance through summer stock before establishing himself on Broadway, where his credits spanned from 1940 to 1954 and included productions such as Big White Fog, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Eve of St. Mark, Two on the Aisle, Room Service, and The Pajama Game. He once described his acting career to an interviewer in 1969 as having played "all the parts that Phil Silvers wouldn't play."

Alongside his stage work, Prager appeared in the film adaptation of The Eve of St. Mark and took roles in several motion pictures throughout the 1940s, among them A Bell for Adano, Gun Crazy, In the Meantime, Darling, and A Foreign Affair. His return to Broadway in 1951 earned him critical praise for his work in Two on the Aisle, the revue written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. He subsequently played Faker Englund in a 1953 revival of Room Service and originated the role of Prez in The Pajama Game in 1954.

Prager's Broadway career was complicated by blacklisting in the early 1950s. In March 1953, former screenwriter Bart Lytton testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Prager had been present at Communist Party meetings. In August 1955, Prager was among a group of performers who refused to answer the Committee's questions, stating that his thoughts, speech, and associations were not the Committee's concern. The following July, the House of Representatives cited Prager for contempt of Congress alongside six others, including playwright Arthur Miller, stage actress Sarah Cunningham, her husband John Randolph, and actors Lou Polan and George Tyne. Despite pressure from production backers who were wary of his involvement, director George Abbott convened the creative staff to address their concerns and chose to retain Prager. According to a 1976 newspaper account, Abbott renewed Prager's contract early in 1955 specifically to prevent his dismissal when he appeared before the Committee, and critic Howard Kissel later noted that Prager had been given a run-of-the-play contract in 1954 notwithstanding his blacklisted status.

Prager moved into directing beginning in 1961 with Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn. His subsequent theatre directing credits included Bravo Giovanni, Don't Drink the Water, Minnie's Boys, and 70, Girls, 70. In television, he directed episodes of Car 54, Where Are You? and The Patty Duke Show, as well as The Love Song of Barney Kempinski for ABC Stage 67. Working in Europe for producer Sidney Pink, he directed two films: Madigan's Millions, which was the first film to feature Dustin Hoffman, and Bang Bang Kid, starring Tom Bosley and Guy Madison.

In 1956, Prager married actress Georgann Johnson. The couple had four daughters — Carol, Ann, Sally, and Molly — and remained together until Prager's death on January 18, 1972, which occurred while he was on a business trip to Los Angeles.