Jerry Zaks

Directing

Jerry Zaks

Born September 7, 1946 · Stuttgart, Germany (age 80)

Jerry Zaks (born September 7, 1946) is a German-born American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me A Tenor, and Six Degrees of Separation and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Guys and Dolls.

Known For

Crimes and MisdemeanorsCrimes and Misdemeanors · 1989
Crimes and Misdemeanors
★ 7.41989
MovieComedyDrama
A renowned ophthalmologist is desperate to cut off an adulterous relationship…which ends up in murder; and a frustrated documentary filmmaker woos an attractive television producer while making a film about her insufferably self-centered boss.
Marvin's RoomMarvin's Room · 1996
Marvin's Room
★ 6.71996
MovieDrama
A leukemia patient attempts to end a 20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.
Outrageous FortuneOutrageous Fortune · 1987
Outrageous Fortune
★ 6.01987
MovieComedy
Refined actress Lauren Ames finally has a chance to study with the great theatre professor Stanislav Korzenowski. Sandy Brozinsky, a brash, loud actress, decides through happenstance to also study with Korzenowski. The two women end up dating the same man (who turns out to be a double agent) and follow him across the country to force him to choose between them.
The Gentleman BanditThe Gentleman Bandit · 1981
The Gentleman Bandit
★ 5.71981
MovieCrimeDrama
Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Bernard Pagano, who was accused of several armed robberies in the late Seventies.
AssassinsAssassins · 1990
Assassins
1990
Movie
This darkly satirical musical reframes American history through the eyes of those who attempted – successfully or not – to kill US presidents. Structured as a surreal carnival sideshow, the piece weaponises American musical traditions – vaudeville, folk ballads, barbershop quartets, patriotic Sousa-style marches and Bacharach pop – to undercut the myth of the “American Dream,” exposing how frustration, alienation and entitlement can curdle into violence. By giving voice to figures from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassins invites audiences not to condone their acts but to confront the unsettling continuity between personal disillusionment and national mythology, turning the musical stage into a mirror for America’s darkest obsessions.
The House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue Leaves · 1987
The House of Blue Leaves
★ 8.01987
MovieComedyDrama
On the day in 1965 that the Pope visits New York and masses of people line the streets in adulation, Artie, a zookeeper living in Sunnyside, Queens, thinks it's time for his life to be blessed, too. He desperately wants to escape his lower middle-class existence and become a popular singer and songwriter, but his life is complicated by an ambitious mistress, a crazy wife and a bomb-making son.
Love LettersLove Letters · 2020
Love Letters
2020
Movie
Andrew Makepeace Ladd III wrote his first letter to Melissa Gardner to tell her she looked like a lost princess. They were both seven years old. For the next fifty years, through personal triumphs and despair, through wars and marriages and children and careers, they poured out the secrets of their hearts to each other. They defied a fate that schemed to keep them apart and lived—through letters—or the one most meaningful thing, their undying love for each other.
The Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Came to Dinner · 2000
The Man Who Came to Dinner
★ 7.42000
MovieComedy
Broadcast of a live performance of the Roundabout Theater Company's 2000 New York revival of the classic Kaufman-Hart comedy, about a famous (and famously acid-tongued) theater critic who is forced to stay in a Midwestern couple's home and the havoc that ensues.

Filmography

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AssassinsAssassins · 1990
Assassins
1990
Movie
This darkly satirical musical reframes American history through the eyes of those who attempted – successfully or not – to kill US presidents. Structured as a surreal carnival sideshow, the piece weaponises American musical traditions – vaudeville, folk ballads, barbershop quartets, patriotic Sousa-style marches and Bacharach pop – to undercut the myth of the “American Dream,” exposing how frustration, alienation and entitlement can curdle into violence. By giving voice to figures from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassins invites audiences not to condone their acts but to confront the unsettling continuity between personal disillusionment and national mythology, turning the musical stage into a mirror for America’s darkest obsessions.

Director

All About the AndersonsAll About the Andersons · 2003
All About the Andersons
★ 8.32003
SeriesComedy
As soon as single dad Anthony moves back into his parents' home to provide a stable environment for his 8-year-old son, he immediately remembers why he left in the first place. His mother Flo is always understanding and supportive, but his cantankerous father Joe wants Anthony to abandon his acting hopes and take a "real job" working in the family beauty salon/barber shop. To complicate things, Anthony's old room is being rented out to a medical student, George, leaving Anthony alone in the garage. Torn between teaching his son about determination and providing for him, Anthony is about to put his dreams on hold. It takes his son Tuga to remind him that, aside from each other, their dreams are all they have.

Director