Herbert Ross

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Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York - October 9, 2001 in New York City), also known as Herb Ross, was a prolific film director, producer, choreographer and actor from the 1950s to the 1990s.

In 1942, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth. His choreography career began with the American Ballet Theatre in 1950. His first film as a choreographer was in 1954 with Carmen Jones.

In 1968, he worked with Barbra Streisand as choreographer and director of musical numbers for the film Funny Girl. The following year, he made his motion picture directorial debut with a musical version of the classic Goodbye, Mr. Chips, starring Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark.

In 1975, he worked on the film adaptation of the Neil Simon play The Sunshine Boys, the first of several Simon play adaptations he directed.

He had a huge hit with the film adaptation of Robert Harling's play Steel Magnolias, featuring Sally Field, Dolly Parton and Shirley MacLaine, in 1989. His last film was in 1995, when he produced and directed Boys on the Side, with Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore.

He was married twice, the first time to ballerina Nora Kaye, who died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 67, the second to Lee Radziwill, which marriage ended in divorce in 2001.

Herbert Ross died of heart failure at age 74 in New York City and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.