Producer Gladys Nederlander Dies at 83

Gladys Nederlander, Broadway producer and member of the family that owns theaters through the U.S., died on July 21 in New York at age 83. According to her husband, theater owner and producer, Robert E. Nederlander, the cause was heart failure.

Born in New York City in 1925, Nederlander grew up in Chicago and Southern California. Her first job in show business was on the staff for the radio show Queen for a Day, which eventually moved to television. In 1945, Nederlander married songwriter Fred Stryker, with whom she had two children before divorcing after 10 years. In 1963, Nederlander married Milton Rackmil, founder of Decca Records and president of Universal Pictures. They would divorce in 1973.

In the mid-1970s, Nederlander turned to Broadway, and produced nine shows in her lifetime, including a 1980 revival of West Side Story, starring Debbie Allen and directed by Jerome Robbins. Her other credits include 1977's Caesar and Cleopatra with Rex Harrison and Elizabeth Ashley, 1992's Death and the Maiden with Gene Hackman and Glenn Close, and 1993's musical adaptation of The Goodbye Girl with Martin Short and Bernadette Peters.

In the early 80s, Nederlander moved to television as an executive producer for Nederlander Television and Film Productions, overseeing TV movies such as A Case of Libel with Edward Asner and Daniel J. Travanti, as well as the 1993 film adaptation of Death and the Maiden, starring Sigourney Weaver and Sir Ben Kinglsey and directed by Roman Polanski. The man who hired her for the job would go on to become her husband.

In addition to her husband, Nederlander is survived by two children from her first marriage, Steve Stryker and Teri Ann Stryker, as well as a grandson.