A popular Broadway actor who was blacklisted following his refusal to
answer questions at the HUAC hearings, actor and World War II veteran
Alan Manson rebuilt his career following the McCarthy witch hunts, though
he is best remembered for his stage roles in such Broadway hits as Funny
Girl and Neil Simon's Broadway Bound. A Brooklyn, NY, native, Manson made
his stage debut at 16 before hitting the bright lights of Broadway with
his performance in Journey to Jerusalem at 21. Joining a touring wartime
acting troupe during World War II, Manson and company attempted to keep
morale high in such productions as Three Men and a Horse and Brother Rat.
After being noticed by famed composer Irving Berlin, Manson made his film
debut in the 1943 feature This Is the Army. Returning to the United
States shortly following the end of the war, the now-established actor
returned to the Broadway stage with roles in Call Me Mister and Rodgers &
Hammerstein's Allegro. Summoned before the HUAC shortly before he was to
take the lead in 1955's Blithe Spirit, the actor paid for his silence
when he was blacklisted from television until the early '60s. Returning
to the stage and screen in the early '70s following a few turbulent
years, Manson would continue to make a name for himself with roles in
made-for-television movies (Switch [1975] and Charles and Diana:
Unhappily Ever After [1992]), theatrical feature films (Bang the Drum
Slowly [1973], The Doors [1991]), and such notable television series as
Three's Company, The Rockford Files, and Kojak. He also appeared as Flo
Ziegfeld opposite Barbara Streisand in the Broadway production of "Funny
Girl".Appeared in many New York, Broadway shows including "This Is The
Army", Paddy Chayefksy's, "The Tenth Man", Call Me Mister" and Rogers &
Hammerstein's "Allegro" and "Angels Kiss Me".
In March of 2002, Alan Manson died of natural causes in New York. He was
83.
Alan Manson