Mel Ferrer - Actor, Director, and Producer - Page 2

Actor/director/producer Mel Ferrer was born Melchor Gaston Ferrer on August 25, 1917. From the age of 15 he worked in summer stock. He became a chorus dancer on Broadway in 1938 and made his New York debut as an actor two years later. After a bout with polio he started in radio as a disc jockey and rose to producer-director. He debuted as a director at Columbia with The Girl of the Limberlost, then returned to acting on Broadway to star in "Strange Fruit." He was John Ford's assistant on The Fugitive. Ferrer made his screen acting debut in Lost Boundaries. He is best remembered for the role of the lame puppeteer in Lili and as Prince Andrei in War and Peace. He directed Claudette Colbert in The Secret Fury and Audrey Hepburn - his wife at the time - in Green Mansions. Ferrer produced the hit Wait Until Dark, also with Hepburn. In the following year, the couple separated and ultimately divorced. Since 1960 had been producing and acting mainly in Europe. He died June 2, 2008.