Hiram Sherman

b. 11 February 1908, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, d. 11 April 1989, Springfield, Illinois, USA. Many of Sherman’s 30s appearances on Broadway were in plays and musicals, including Too Much Party (1934), Horse Eats Hat (1936), The Shoemaker’s Holiday (1938), Sing Out The News (1938) and Very Warm For May (1939). In the latter he sang songs by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, including most notably ‘All The Things You Are’, which he sang with Frances Mercer, Ralph Stuart and Hollace Shaw. In the 40s, Sherman appeared in Boyd’s Daughter (1940, which he also directed), The Talley Method (1941), was Ragueneau in a revival of Cyrano De Bergerac (1946), and Town House (1948). In the long-running 1949 London production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Brigadoon he took the role of Jeff Douglas. Sherman started the 50s with a flop, Four Twelves Are 48 (1951), then was in Two’s Company (1952), a Charles Sherman musical revue at the Alvin Theatre, in which he co-starred with Hollywood star Bette Davis, who was making one of her rare Broadway appearances. Sherman had several features, including Sheldon Harnick’s ‘A Man’s Home’ and Phil Lang’s ‘Purple Rose’. Sherman attracted good notices and although the show ran for only 90 performances he won 1953’s Tony Award as Best Featured Actor In A Musical. Among his other 50s Broadway shows were The Frogs Of Spring (1953), 3 For Tonight (1955), and International Soiree (1958). In the 60s he was in Where’s Daddy? (1966) and How Now, Dow Jones (1967), for which Sherman won his second Tony Award as Best Featured Actor In A Musical. Sherman also made some film and television appearances. Among the former were One Third Of A Nation (1939), The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956), and Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feeling So Sad (1967). On television he took roles in drama series produced under the banners of Actor’s Studio (late 40s), Chevrolet Television Theater, Prudential Family Theater, and Studio One (all 50s), as well as Alice In Wonderland (1955), Miracle On 34th Street (1959), Abe Lincoln In Illinois (1964) and Certain Honorable Men (1968).