Alfred Drake (October , â€" July , ) was an American actor and
singer.Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents
emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while
still a student at Brooklyn College. He is best known for his leading
roles in the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma!; Kiss Me,
Kate; Kismet; and for playing Marshall Blackstone in the original
production of Babes in Arms, (in which he sang the title song) and
Hajj in Kismet, for which he received the Tony Award. He was also a
prolific Shakespearean, notably starring as Benedick in Much Ado About
Nothing opposite Katharine Hepburn.Drake was mostly a stage and
television actor; he starred in only one film, Tars and Spars (), but
played several roles on television, including providing the voice for
the Great Ak in the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated adaptation of the
L. Frank Baum novel The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. He
appeared in a minor film role as president of the stock exchange in
the classic comedy Trading Places (), with Eddie Murphy and Dan
Aykroyd. His first musical television appearance was as Captain Dick
Warrington in the January , live telecast of the operetta Naughty
Marietta. His stage performance as Claudius in the Richard Burton
Hamlet was filmed live on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre,
using a "quickie" process called Electronovision, and shown in movie
theatres in a very limited engagement. It was also recorded on LP. His
final stage appearance in a musical was in as Honore LaChaisse in
Lerner and Loewe's Gigi. Two years later he starred in a revival of
The Skin of Our Teeth.
singer.Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents
emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while
still a student at Brooklyn College. He is best known for his leading
roles in the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma!; Kiss Me,
Kate; Kismet; and for playing Marshall Blackstone in the original
production of Babes in Arms, (in which he sang the title song) and
Hajj in Kismet, for which he received the Tony Award. He was also a
prolific Shakespearean, notably starring as Benedick in Much Ado About
Nothing opposite Katharine Hepburn.Drake was mostly a stage and
television actor; he starred in only one film, Tars and Spars (), but
played several roles on television, including providing the voice for
the Great Ak in the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated adaptation of the
L. Frank Baum novel The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. He
appeared in a minor film role as president of the stock exchange in
the classic comedy Trading Places (), with Eddie Murphy and Dan
Aykroyd. His first musical television appearance was as Captain Dick
Warrington in the January , live telecast of the operetta Naughty
Marietta. His stage performance as Claudius in the Richard Burton
Hamlet was filmed live on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre,
using a "quickie" process called Electronovision, and shown in movie
theatres in a very limited engagement. It was also recorded on LP. His
final stage appearance in a musical was in as Honore LaChaisse in
Lerner and Loewe's Gigi. Two years later he starred in a revival of
The Skin of Our Teeth.
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