Ira Lewis, Actor and Playwright, Dies at 82
By Daniel E. Slotnik New York Times 4/16/2015
Ira Lewis, an actor turned playwright whose comedies, often with star-studded casts, skewered the neuroses and pretensions of writers and artists, died on April 4 in Edison, N.J. He was 82. The cause was complications following open-heart surgery, Cheryl Hartley, a friend, said.
Mr. Lewis’s greatest success was “Chinese Coffee,” a one-act play in which a novelist and a photographer, both down and out, argue about the novelist’s manuscript. Al Pacino was cast as the writer when the play had its premiere at the Circle in the Square Theater on Broadway in 1992.
Mr. Pacino reprised the role the next year, with Ben Gazzara as the photographer, at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Connecticut. He also directed a film adaptation in 2000, in which he starred with Jerry Orbach. Mr. Lewis wrote the screenplay.
In a statement, Mr. Pacino said of Mr. Lewis, “In ‘Chinese Coffee,’ he expressed the pathos, the injustice and the humanity of our world in the microcosm of these two bottomed-out artists.”
Another Lewis play, “Gross Points,” is about a movie star who is always proclaiming his preference for the stage; Alec Baldwin starred in a 2001 production at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Ira Lewis Metsky was born in Newark on Aug. 27, 1933. He studied acting and made his Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s “Incident at Vichy” in 1964, directed by Harold Clurman. The next year, Mr. Lewis toured with a production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” directed by Clurman.
Mr. Lewis’s first produced play was “The Sponsor,” staged at the Theater at St. Clement’s in Manhattan in 1977. A later play, “Pearlfield,” is based on the last months of Clurman’s life.
In 1996 Mr. Lewis appeared with Mr. Pacino, Mr. Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and others in Mr. Pacino’s directorial debut, “Looking for Richard,” a documentary film about Shakespeare’s “Richard III.”
Mr. Lewis, who lived in Westfield, N.J., is survived by two brothers, Marvin and Seymour.
R.I.P. Ira Lewis
For discussions of subjects relating to literature and theater.
Return to “The Cam Dagg Memorial Theatre and Literature Forum”
Jump to
- Announcements
- ↳ General Announcements
- Introductions
- ↳ Let Me Introduce Myself...
- The Academy Awards
- ↳ The 10th Decade
- ↳ 97th Academy Awards
- ↳ 96th Academy Awards
- ↳ 95th Academy Awards
- ↳ 94th Academy Awards
- ↳ 93rd Academy Awards
- ↳ 92nd Academy Awards
- ↳ 91st Academy Awards
- ↳ The 9th Decade
- ↳ 90th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 90th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 89th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 89th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 88th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 88th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 87th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 87th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 86th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 86th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 85th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 85th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 84th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 84th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 83rd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 83rd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 82nd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 82nd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 81st and Other 9th Decade Discussions
- ↳ The 8th Decade
- ↳ The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread
- ↳ Other Oscar Discussions
- General Film Discussions
- ↳ 2020s
- ↳ Coming Soon
- ↳ 2024
- ↳ 2023
- ↳ 2022
- ↳ 2021
- ↳ 2020
- ↳ 2010s
- ↳ 2019
- ↳ 2018
- ↳ 2017
- ↳ 2016
- ↳ 2015
- ↳ 2014
- ↳ 2013
- ↳ 2012
- ↳ 2011
- ↳ 2010
- ↳ 2000s
- ↳ 2009
- ↳ 2008
- ↳ 2000 - 2007
- ↳ The First Century
- ↳ Dream Projects
- ↳ The People
- ↳ Other Film Discussions
- Miscellaneous Discussions
- ↳ Help Forum
- ↳ DVD Discussions
- ↳ Current Events
- ↳ Broadcast Media
- ↳ The Cam Dagg Memorial Theatre and Literature Forum
- ↳ General Off-Topic