Playwright, actor, and director Michael Gazzo was born on April 5, 1923 in Hillside, N.J. After graduating from an Elizabeth, N.J. high school in 1939, he studied at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Science, receiving a diploma in 1949; and at the Actors Studio, becoming a member in 1952. In 1944 he married Grace Henn with whom he has had three children. During the World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Force.
Gazzo's first critical success as a playwright came for his A Hatful of Rain (Lyceum Th., 1955, Nov 9); he tied with Paddy Chayefsky as promising playwright of the year in the Variety Drama Critics poll. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie of the same title released by Fox in 1957; this film was ranked by Film Daily as one of the five best films of 1957. He wrote the play Night Circus (John Golden Th., 1958, Dec 2), and he acted in and directed a number of plays for the Dramatic Workshop and for other off- and on-Broadway productions.
In films Gazzo acted in On the Waterfront (Col, 1954) and The Pride and the Passion (UA, 1957). He wrote the screenplays for King Creole (Par, 1958) and The World of Johnny Cool (UA, 1964) as well as A Hatful of Rain.
He has taught acting privately since 1950 in addition to teaching classes in theater at Studio Six, the Actors Cine Lab, and the Dramatic Workshop
of the New School for Social Research. He is a member of AFTRA, the Screen Writers Guild, and the Dramatists Guild.
