Producer T. Edward Hambleton Dies at 94

T. Edward Hambleton, co-founder of the legendary Phoenix Theater and the producer of the original Broadway production of Once Upon a Mattress, died on December 17 in Baltimore, Maryland at the age of 94.

Hambleton presented a number of short-lived Broadway productions between 1937 and 1950, most notably Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo. In 1953, he and Norris Houghton co-founded the Phoenix, which would go on to present more than 150 plays and musicals over the next four decades, including Mattress, The Golden Apple, Uncommon Women and Others, Beyond Therapy, and dozens of notable revivals. Among the many actors who worked with the Phoenix were Helen Hayes, Rosemary Harris, Uta Hagen, Montgomery Clift, and Meryl Streep.

In 2000, Hambleton received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and was also inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He is survived by his second wife, Merrell Hopkins, plus five children, six grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.