Richard Kollmar

Early life

Richard Kollmar was born in Brooklyn, New York to John and Christine L. (née Smith) Kollmar. His great-great grandfather was Daniel D. Tompkins, the fourth Governor of New York and the sixth Vice President of the United States. During Richard's infancy, the Kollmars moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey where John Kollmar worked as an architect. Richard Kollmar later attended Tusculum College where he became interested in acting. While in college, he performed in the school's glee club and was the editor of the school newspaper. Upon graduation, he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama but dropped out after winning a role on a radio drama.

Career

After moving to New York City and getting steady work on radio commercials, Kollmar appeared in the Broadway plays Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) and Too Many Girls (1939). In the early 1940s, Kollmar portrayed Dennis Pierce on the radio series Pretty Kitty Kelly on CBS Radio. From 1945 to 1950, Kollmar portrayed Boston Blackie on the radio program of the same name on the Mutual Radio Network. He also had lead roles in other radio shows including the soap opera Bright Horizon, Gang Busters and Grand Central Station.

In April 1945, Kollmar and columnist wife Dorothy Kilgallen (whom he had married in April 1940) began hosting a 45-minute breakfast radio show called Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick. The program aired Monday through Friday on WOR and was broadcast from the couple's 16-room Park Avenue apartment. Over breakfast, served by their butler Julius, the couple talked about New York City entertainment, celebrity gossip and the city's nightclub scene. The couple's two children, Richard, Jr. ("Dickie") and Jill, often made appearances. Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick was broadcast locally throughout New York City and its suburbs, drawing an audience of 20 million listeners. The couple sometimes chatted on the radio airwaves with sports figures; Friday morning, May 9, 1947 was one such occasion.

In 1952, the Kollmar family moved from their Park Avenue apartment to a brownstone on East 68th Street, and the show began originating from there. Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick ceased production on March 21, 1963.

In 1948, Kollmar made his first and only film appearance in the 1948 low-budget crime drama Close-Up, directed by Jack Donohue. In June 1949, he began hosting the live television variety series Broadway Spotlight. The series, which aired on NBC, was canceled in September 1949. Throughout the early to mid-1950s, Kollmar continued his career as an actor with guest roles on television. In 1952, he became the master of ceremonies for the DuMont Television Network game show Guess What? The network launched the series with a Tuesday night time slot on July 8, then canceled it toward the end of the summer. From 1952 to 1965, Kollmar made five appearances on the game show What's My Line?, on which his wife was a regular panelist. Kollmar appeared once as an occupational guest, twice as part of a group of mystery guests and twice as a panelist.

In addition to his work in radio and television, Kollmar produced and directed several Broadway stage plays. He produced his first Broadway show, By Jupiter, in June 1944. In May 1944, he produced and directed the fantasy musical Dream With Music. The production starred Norwegian ballerina Vera Zorina and was written by Kollmar's wife Dorothy, Sidney Sheldon and Ben Roberts. The musical was praised for its ballet sequences, but received largely poor reviews. It closed after 28 performances. Kollmar fared better with his next two productions, Are You With It? and Plain and Fancy, both of which were hits. In 1958, Kollmar produced The Body Beautiful, a musical about prize fighters starring Steve Forrest, singers Lonnie Sattin and Barbara McNair (in their Broadway debuts), Mindy Carson and Jack Warden. He hired two newcomers, lyricist Sheldon Harnick and composer Jerry Bock, both of whom would go on to write the lyrics and music for the hit shows Fiddler on the Roof and Fiorello! Upon its debut on January 23, 1958, reviews were generally mixed. However, more influential critics panned the show and the music (though two songs, "All of These and More" and "Summer Is", became standards) with one critic from The New Yorker calling the show "vulgar and feeble minded in equal degrees." The Body Beautiful failed to attract an audience and closed in March 1958, after 60 performances. It was the last show Kollmar would produce.

When not active in acting and producing, Kollmar operated a New York City supper club called The Left Bank (the club closed by 1965). He was also involved in the arts community, working with the Art Students League of New York and opened an art gallery in midtown Manhattan.

Personal life

Kollmar was married twice and had three children. On April 6, 1940, he married columnist Dorothy Kilgallen at the St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Manhattan. The couple had three children: Richard, Jr., (born 1941), Jill (born 1943) and Kerry (born 1954). They remained married until Kilgallen's death in November 1965.

In June 1967, Kollmar married fashion designer Anne Fogarty to whom he remained married until his death.

Death

On January 7, 1971, Kollmar died at his Manhattan home. Newspaper reports stated that he "died in his sleep late Thursday [which was January 7] in his New York home." According to a statement from his friends that was cited in his New York Times obituary and in obituaries that appeared nationwide, he had broken his shoulder falling at his home on January 4, three days before his death.

His funeral was held on January 9 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Manhattan. Kollmar is buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.