Kermit Bloomgarden-He was an American theatrical producer, who had started out as an accountant, before producing plays on Broadway including Death of a Salesman, Look Homeward, Angel, The Music Man and Equus. Bloomgarden was born in Brooklyn to Zemad and Annie Groden Bloomgarden, where he attended the local public schools. He majored in accounting at New York University and became a Certified Public Accountant after his graduation in 1926. He transitioned into theater after meeting Arthur Beckhard at a 1932 dinner party, who convinced Bloomgarden, as he later recounted, that "the theater was for me". He worked for Beckhard as his general manager, before accepting the same position with Herman Shumlin. In his ten years with Shumlins, he helped produce a number of Lillian Hellman's plays, including The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, and Watch on the Rhine; he also mounted her last play, Toys in the Attic, in 1960. His first producing effort was in 1940 with Heavenly Express, starring John Garfield, which closed shortly after it opened. His first hit was in 1945 Deep Are the Roots, followed by Hellman's Another Part of the Forest the next year. Command Decision, written by William Wister Haines, followed in 1947, with Paul Kelly sharing the Best Actor Tony Award that year for his performance and James Whitmore earning the Tony for "Best Performance by a Newcomer". Bloomgarden had a major string of success that culminated with the February 1949 opening of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, which earned a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The winning streak ended with Lillian Hellman's works Montserrat in 1949 and The Autumn Garden in 1950, but he got back on track with The Children's Hour soon thereafter. From September 1955 to May 1956, Bloomgarden helped create Arthur Miller's modestly successful A View from the Bridge, followed by The Diary of Anne Frank, Jean Anouilh's The Lark starring Julie Harris and The Most Happy Fella, starring Robert Weede. November 1957 brought Look Homeward, Angel, based on the novel by Thomas Wolfe. Bloomgarden had Ketti Frings, better known for her screenplays, write the play, and chose George Roy Hill to direct, who had worked mostly in television. The show made Anthony Perkins a star. Arteriosclerosis forced the amputation of his right leg in 1971. After a lengthy recuperation,he returned triumphantly to producing with the off-Broadway transfer of the Circle Repertory Company production of Lanford Wilson's The Hot l Baltimore, which ran for 1,166 performances and won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play. Afterwards, he brought Peter Shaffer's Equus to the stage in 1974, which he had co-produced with Doris Abrahams. Bloomgarden died at age 71 in his New York City home on September 20, 1976, having dealt with a brain tumor for six months before his death.