Alfred de Liagre papers

Alfred Gustav Etienne de Liagre was born on October 6, 1904 in Passaic, New Jersey, the son of Alfred and Frida (Unger) de Liagre. He was a graduate of the Riverdale Country School in New York City (1922), and Yale University (1926).

After brief careers in aviation, banking, and journalism, de Liagre entered the theatrical profession in 1930 as a stage hand at the Woodstock Playhouse, and as a stage manager for a production of Twelfth Night at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in New York. With his 1933 production of Three Cornered Moon, de Liagre began a career as a Broadway producer and director which spanned fifty-four years and included over forty stage and screen productions.

Among de Liagre's most successful productions were The Voice of the Turtle by John Van Druten, which de Liagre directed and co-produced with Richard Aldrich; Giradoux's Madwoman of Chaillot, which received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1949; The Golden Apple, which received the "Best Musical" award of the New York Drama Critics in 1954; the 1958 production of Archibald MacLeish's J.B., which received the Tony Award; Deathtrap, which was produced in 1978, and was the longest running comedy thriller in Broadway history; and the revival of the Rogers and Hart musical On Your Toes which received the Tony Award in 1983.

De Liagre's film credits include Springtime for Henry, which he directed in 1934, The Voice of the Turtle, which he produced in 1947, and Deathtrap which he produced in 1981.

In addition to his Broadway productions, de Liagre produced a number of revivals in the late 1960s and 1970s for the Plumstead Playhouse, which he assisted in founding, and the American National Theatre and Academy, for which he served as executive director.

De Liagre was on the board of directors of the League of New York Theatres, the Actors Fund of America, the National Repertory Theatre, the American Theatre Wing, and the Julliard School, and was chairman of the School of Drama division of the Yale University Council. He was a member of the Century Club and of the Century's Round Table.

For his 1949 production of Madwoman of Chaillot, de Liagre was made a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 1984.

De Liagre was married to actress Mary Howard in 1945, and was the father of Christina and Nicholas de Liagre. Alfred de Liagre died on March 5, 1987.