Background
Guthrie McClintic was born on August 6, 1893 in Seattle, Washington. He was the son of Edgar Daggs McClintic, a businessman, and of Ella Florence McClintic. His parents were third cousins.
Guthrie McClintic was born on August 6, 1893 in Seattle, Washington. He was the son of Edgar Daggs McClintic, a businessman, and of Ella Florence McClintic. His parents were third cousins.
McClintic's interest in the theater began at an early age. As a youth he attended matinee performances of a Seattle stock company. When in high school, he ran away from home to join a traveling repertory company. His parents quickly retrieved him, but a family friend helped convince Edgar McClintic that the theater could be an honorable profession for his son. In the fall of 1910, McClintic enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in New York City. He graduated in March 1912 and prepared to begin his career as an actor.
His first role was in Oliver Twist, which was to be presented by a new company throughout Canada. After a dismal start, the company was abandoned by the management in London, Ontario. McClintic next played with a company in Wilmington, Del. , where he was fortunate to escape the theater with a few personal possessions when the sheriff seized all property to cover the company's unpaid bills. McClintic's career seemed headed for oblivion. For a time in 1913 he appeared in a vaudeville act, performing five times a day. But, some fourteen months after his graduation, he calculated that he had worked only twelve weeks. Then an actor from the American Academy suggested that he contact the producer Winthrop Ames, who was casting a new play. McClintic was granted an interview with Ames's director, George F. Platt, who showed no interest and abruptly dismissed him. McClintic felt he had not been treated fairly, and penned an angry letter to Ames. Then he decided not to send it, but three weeks later, while attending a séance, he received a "message" directing him to mail the letter. Subsequently, without ever seeing him, Ames hired McClintic as assistant stage manager for a new play, Her Own Money, by Mark Swan. Without an assistant McClintic handled all props and scene changes, memorizing the exact locations so everything could be placed in the dark. The play soon closed, but Ames had been impressed by McClintic's ability and diligence. An association developed that lasted for almost a decade.
In April 1917, when the United States entered World War I, McClintic volunteered for service, but was rejected because of a heart condition. Soon thereafter he was married. He produced his first play during these years (it failed), and also served as a talent scout for Ames. In June 1919 he and his wife separated. Ames now offered to back a McClintic production. For more than a year McClintic searched for the right play. He found it in A. A. Milne's The Dover Road. He also discovered Katharine Cornell, a leading actress in Ames's productions, who later became his wife. Dover Road, which opened December 23, 1921, ran for thirty-five weeks on Broadway, and was chosen one of the ten best plays of the season. In the spring of 1925, McClintic directed Katharine Cornell in Michael Arlen's The Green Hat, which also starred Leslie Howard. By this time he had developed a method of rehearsal that he would use for the rest of his life. For at least a week, the actors read their parts while seated around a table. Only after this period of reading and dissection would McClintic allow standing rehearsals. He claimed never to have had a serious argument with a playwright, not even with George Bernard Shaw, who was noted for irritability. McClintic produced and directed Shaw's Candida (1933, 1937, 1942, 1946), Saint Joan (1936), and The Doctor's Dilemma (1941). Several of the best productions of Shakespeare in the twentieth century were McClintic's work. Late in 1933 he convinced his wife to play the part of Juliet opposite Basil Rathbone's Romeo in a touring version of the tragedy that also starred Orson Welles as Mercutio.
During twenty-nine weeks of touring, the company presented Romeo and Juliet (thirty-nine times), Candida (forty-two times), and the Barretts of Wimpole Street (144 times). In her portrayal of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Katharine Cornell created her most famous role, to which she frequently returned over the next fifteen years. McClintic tried Shakespeare again in 1936 with Hamlet, starring John Gielgud, Judith Anderson, Lillian Gish, and Arthur Byron.
During his lifetime McClintic was involved in more than 100 productions. He directed ninety-four plays, thirty-one of them under his own management. Twenty-eight of his productions featured Katharine Cornell. Among the many outstanding actors and actresses he directed were Leslie Howard, Burgess Meredith, Cedric Hardwicke, Raymond Massey, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Richardson, Edith Evans, Maurice Evans, Laurence Olivier, Paul Muni, Charlton Heston, Julie Harris, Montgomery Clift, José Ferrer, Maureen Stapleton, Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, and Ethel Barrymore. After World War II, McClintic was less active. His last production was in 1960, when he and Sol Hurok presented Dear Liar, starring Katharine Cornell and Brian Aherne.
(The author's life with Katherine Cornell)
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Quotations: "I believe in Will Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Katharine Cornell; in the stimulus of a good play, the power of direction, and the magic of the theatre. "
McClintic was married twice. He was married first to Estelle Winwood and and then to Katharine Cornell on September 8, 1921.