Biography
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer who has designed sets for over 115 Broadway performances, as well as other productions. He won two Tony Awards, for Talley’s Folly and The Nance, and was nominated for 13 more. He also won five Drama Desk Awards and was nominated for another 10.
Age
He is 76 years old as of 4 April 2024. He was born in 1948 in Palo Alto, California, United States
Family – Education
His father was the dean of students at Pomona College, and his mother had previously worked in academics. While studying English at Brown University, he produced, wrote, played, designed sets and costumes, and silkscreened posters for undergraduate shows.
Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $2 million.
Set Design
Beatty worked as a set designer at the Wayside Theatre in Middletown, Virginia, in the early 1970s, when he also performed a puppet act called “Puppet Personalities”. In New York, he began his theatrical career as Douglas Schmidt’s assistant. He joined the Circle Repertory Company and later built the sets for his first Broadway production, Knock Knock (by Jules Feiffer), in 1976.
Since then, he has created sets for over 115 Broadway musicals, including Heartbreak House, Rabbit Hole, The Color Purple, Crimes of the Heart, The Odd Couple, Doubt, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Twentieth Century, Wonderful Town, Dinner at Eight, Morning at Seven. Proof, Footloose, Ivanov, The Little Foxes, Once Upon a Mattress. Chicago, A Delicate Balance. The Heiress, Redwood Curtain, A Small Family Business, The Most Happy Fella, Ain’t Misbehavin, The Octette Bridge Club, Duet for One, Fifth of July, Talley’s Folly, The Innocents, Other Desert Cities, Penn and Teller, After Midnight Disgraced and sweaty. He has won two Obie Awards for Set Design (1975 and 2005).
Career
He has also been nominated for 13 other Tony Awards, including Fifth of July (1981), A Small Family Business (1992), Redwood Curtain (1993), The Heiress (1995), A Delicate Balance (1996), The Little Foxes (1997), Morning’s at Seven (2002), Dinner at Eight (2003), Doubt (2005), Rabbit Hole (2006), The Color Purple (2006), The Royal Family (2010), and Other Desert Cities (2012). He garnered 10 further Drama Desk nominations.
He received seven Henry Hewes Design Awards for Scenic Designs, including The Whipping Man at City Center Stage 1 (2011). He received four Outer Critics Circle Awards, notably for Talley’s Folly and Hide and Seek. In 2013, he got a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle. He has won five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and two Joseph Jefferson Awards for Scenic Design in Theatre in Chicago.
He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in January 2003. He has taught at Brooklyn College, the North Carolina School of the Arts, Brandeis, and Yale.