Obituaries

Broadway Producer Elliot Martin Dies at 93

Martin’s career spanned 70 years.

Producer Elliot Martin has died.
Producer Elliot Martin has died.
(photo provided by Jeffrey Richards Associates)

Elliot Martin, a Tony-winning Broadway producer whose career spanned 70 years, died May 21 at the age of 93.

Born in Denver on February 25, 1924, Martin attended Denver University from 1943 to 1946. Upon arriving in New York City in 1947, he was cast in the original London production of Oklahoma!, where he met his wife, Marjorie Cuesta Austin. She became the casting director for the majority of his productions, and they remained married for 65 years, until her death in 2014.

In the 1950s, Martin began working as a production manager at the Westport County Playhouse. He stage-managed 15 shows on Broadway, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Long Day's Journey Into Night. Martin later established himself as a producer, mounting productions including Dinner at Eight, A Moon for the Misbegotten, A Touch of the Poet, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Mark Twain Tonight, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, and American Buffalo. For three seasons, he served as the first director of the Los Angeles-based Center Theatre Group.

Martin is survived by his sister, Lois Dunbar, his son Richard Martin, his daughter Linda Martin Giannini, three grandsons, Martin, Alexander, and Charles Giannini, and a great-granddaughter, Luisa Giannini. A memorial service will be held at Marble Collegiate Church on Monday, June 26, at 3pm.