Alfred Drake was born Alfred Capurro in New York City of Italian extraction on October 7, 1914.

He was a Broadway leading man best known for his leading roles in the original Broadway productions of such seminal American musicals as Oklahoma!, and Kiss Me, Kate; also for playing the role of Marshall Blackstone in the original production of Babes in Arms (in which he sang the title song), and for playing the role of Hajj in Kismet.

Drake was mostly a stage and television star; he starred in only one film,Tars and Spars, but played several roles on television. His 1964 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. Today's audiences may remember him as the bearded and bespectacled President of the Exchange, who eventually fires Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy in the 1983 Eddie Murphy-Dan Ackroyd film Trading Places.

Alfred Drake died of cancer on July 25, 1992 in New York City at the age of 77.

Broadway musical credits

• 1936 - White Horse Inn chorus

• 1937 - Babes in Arms as Marshall Blackstone

• 1938 - The Two Bouquets as Albert Porter

• 1939 - One for the Money
• 1939 - The Straw hat Revue

• 1940 - Two for the Show

• 1943 - Oklahoma! as Curly McLain

• 1944 - Sing Out, Sweet Land as Barnaby Goodchild

• 1946 - The Beggar's Holiday as Macheath

• 1947 - The Cradle Will Rock replacement in the part of Larry Foreman

• 1948 - Kiss Me, Kate as Fred Graham

• 1953 - Kismet as Hajj

• 1955 - Kismet as Hajj London production

• 1961 - Kean as Edmund Kean

• 1973 - Gigi as Honore Lachailles

Musical film credit

• 1946 - Tars and Spars as Howard Young

Other films include

• 1964 - Hamlet, the Richard Burton version, as Claudius (Hamlet's uncle)
• 1983 - Trading Places, as the President of the Exchange

Television appearances include

• Several appearances on the Bell Telephone Hour
• 1955 - Naughty Marietta, as Captain Dick Warrington, in a version far more faithful to the stage production than the famous 1935 film.
• 1957 - Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard, as Jack Point
• 1958 - Kiss Me Kate on the Hallmark Hall of Fame, re-creating his stage role
• 1960 - Volpone
• 1985 - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (animated special, as the voice of Ak)

External links

1914 births | 1992 deaths | American actors | American musical theatre actors | Cancer deaths | Entertainers who died in their 70s | Italian-Americans