William “Bill” Herz Jr., an early member of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre, has died. He was 99.
His passing on May 10 was first reported on Twitter by theater writer Frank Rizzo, who had interviewed Herz in 2009 for the Hartford Courant. His obituary in The New York Times described him as a “gentleman of the theatre, last surviving participant of The War of the Worlds broadcast and world class curmudgeon.”
Herz first met Welles when the latter was touring in Romeo and Juliet with Katharine Cornell.
In 1937, Herz became a member of the Mercury Theatre. He started out as a gofer, attending to many production tasks. His responsibilities at the Mercury Theatre increased when he became Stage Manager and Casting Director. As an actor, he appeared in Welles’ stage productions of Caesar, Danton’s Death and The Shoemaker’s Holiday. He also worked on the ill-fated Too Much Johnson.
Recalling his time with the Mercury for Rizzo in 2009, Herz praised music director Marc Blitzstein and set designer Samuel Leve, but called John Houseman “a pompous ass, just like he was in The Paper Chase. He was a sonofabitch.”
“Orson had a great respect for actors and hated everybody else,” Herz said, “especially the financial people. I met him when I was in college, so whenever he saw me I was ‘that rich boy from Pittsburgh,’ even though I didn’t have a pot to pee in.”
In 1938, Welles insisted that Herz, who lived in Brooklyn with his aunt, stay at his two-story home on East 57th Street, where he lived with his wife, Virginia, so he could be readily available for the director at any time of the day or night. “I wasn’t asked to live there,” Herz said. “I was told. Orson doesn’t ask.”
Herz is believed to have been the last surviving cast member of The War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938. “I didn’t think anybody would believe it,” Herz told NorthJersey.com in 2013. “And boy, was I wrong.”
After working at the Mercury Theatre, Herz began producing at the Stony Creek Summer Theatre in Connecticut. In the summer of 1939, he co-produced Angel Street. During World War II, he joined the Air Force as a Special Service Officer, specializing in entertainment and athletic programs. Following the war, he became general manager for the Greenwich Playhouse in Connecticut.
On Broadway, he was the producer of Carrot and the Club, and the general manager for Angel in the Wings. Herz was actively involved with The Actors Fund.
(Special thanks to Craig Wichman for alerting us to Herz’s passing).
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