John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer who has created set designs for more than 110 Broadway shows and has designed for other productions. He has won two Tony Awards, for Talley's Folly and The Nance, and been nominated for 13 more, and he has won five Drama Desk Awards and been nominated for 10 others.
Life and career
Beatty was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also worked in academia. While he was an English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters and scenery for college productions. After graduating from Brown, he entered the Yale School of Drama where he was trained by Ming Cho Lee, as well as Donald Oenslager and Jo Mielziner. In New York, he began his theatre career as an assistant to Douglas Schmidt. He joined the Circle Repertory Company and then designed the sets for his first Broadway show, Knock Knock in 1976. Since then, he has designed sets for more than seventy Broadway productions, including The Apple Tree, Losing Louie, Heartbreak House, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Rabbit Hole, The Color Purple, Crimes of the Heart, The Odd Couple, Doubt, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Twentieth Century, Wonderful Town, Dinner at Eight, Morning's at Seven, Proof, Footloose, Ivanov, The Little Foxes, Once Upon a Mattress, Chicago, A Delicate Balance, The Heiress, Redwood Curtain, A Small Family Business, The Most Happy Fella, Ain't Misbehavin', The Octette Bridge Club, Duet for One, Fifth of July, Talley's Folly and The Innocents. He also has designed for Off-Broadway shows. He received the Henry Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design, for The Whipping Man at the City Center Stage 1 and was nominated for the Hewes Award for Other Desert Cities and Twelfth Night. He was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for The Mystery of Irma Vep.
Awards and honors
Beatty won two Tony Awards for his designs for Talley's Folly and The Nance. He won five Drama Desk Awards for his designs for Talley's Folly, Talley's Folly, Fifth of July, Dinner at Eight and Twentieth Century. He has received 13 other Tony Award nominations, for Fifth of July, A Small Family Business, Redwood Curtain, The Heiress, A Delicate Balance, The Little Foxes, Morning's at Seven, Dinner at Eight, Doubt, Rabbit Hole, The Color Purple, The Royal Family and Other Desert Cities. He received ten other Drama Desk nominations. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in January 2003.
