First hometown appearance
a family affair for Prosky

By Ruth Rovner
For the Times

Actor Robert Prosky seems to have done it all. He’s appeared in 200 plays on Broadway and in regional theater. He’s been in 38 films and numerous TV shows, including three years on Hill Street Blues. And he’s been nominated or has been the recipient of prestigious awards, including two Tony awards, two Helen Hayes awards, an Emmy, a Drama Desk award and more.
But with all this, something was missing from his professional career until recently. The 77-year-old actor, a Philadelphia native, had never appeared on the stage in his own hometown.
But that’s changed now. The award-winning actor has a leading role in the Walnut Street Theatre’s current production of Arthur Miller’s The Price, which continues until March 2.
What’s more, Prosky’s two sons, both accomplished actors, also have leading roles. And in a case of art imitating life, the real-life brothers play brothers in the play.
Prosky is enjoying every minute of this experience.
"I love this play!" Prosky says. "It’s very funny, but it also has a great deal of depth and wisdom.
"And I love performing on the Walnut Street Theatre stage. The Barrymores played here, Edwin Forrest made his debut here, and my dressing room is dedicated to Helen Hayes. It’s thrilling to be on the stage with such a history."
Of course, another highlight is being onstage every night with his two sons, Andy and John Prosky (a third son, Stefan, is not an actor.)
"I knew they were good, but I didn’t know they were this good," says the proud father.
But it’s not the first time he’s worked with them. He and Andy had roles together in A Life in the Theater, and son John directed it. The three have also done films together.
They’ve also been in a previous production of The Price. In the summer of 2006, they played the same roles in a Cape May Stage production. The Prosky family has a summer house in Cape May — a "Victorian monstrosity," says Prosky — where the entire clan, including grandchildren, gather in summer.
The actors in the family welcomed the opportunity to perform together while enjoying summer at the Shore.
Now, in the Walnut production, performing together for six weeks gives them a valuable shared experience.
"The three of us have studied the play very deeply," says Prosky. "During rehearsals, we sat down and discussed it almost every night."
They still enjoy discussing it when they return to their Center City hotel after performances.
"We like to reminisce after each show," he says.
They talk about audience reaction, or what happened that night on the stage, or they give each other feedback.
But while they’re performing, Prosky is careful to restrain his parental instincts.
"You can’t really let the father-son role take over when you’re on the stage," he says.
His own role in the play is that of 89-year-old Gregory Solomon. He’s a wily furniture dealer who comes to the attic of a Manhattan brownstone to look at the furniture offered for sale by two brothers. They are selling the remaining possessions of their late parents.
The brothers have been estranged for years, and serious confrontations erupt, with Solomon often in the middle.
The role is demanding, especially because in the first act, Prosky is onstage almost all the time, and the play is heavy on dialogue.
With a hefty role like this, the sheer stamina required for a 77-year-old actor is a challenge. That’s especially true with performances daily (except Mondays) and twice daily on weekends. That means a total of five shows from Friday evening to Sunday evening.
"It’s daunting when you do this twice a day for an audience of a thousand," Prosky says in an interview before going onstage for an evening performance.
Then, too, there are the vocal demands. In one scene, Solomon virtually screams out a line, "Let him go!" No wonder the actor keeps water backstage all the time. There’s even a glass of water on the stage in case he needs it.
Another challenge is coping with the inevitable unexpected moments that happen onstage. During one evening performance, Prosky accidentally tripped on a rug that’s part of the attic set. He quickly ad libbed, ‘You’ve got bad rugs!"
But this veteran actor can easily handle any theater challenge. And he’s especially at ease with Arthur Miller plays.
"He’s one of my favorite playwrights," says Prosky.
A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, the Crucible, Memory of Two Mondays — he’s had leading roles in all these Miller plays.
He’s played Solomon in The Price on stages from Dublin to Washington, where he earned a Helen Hayes award for his performance.
When he played Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman at the Arena Stage, Arthur Miller himself was in the audience. He later praised Prosky’s performance, calling it "unforgettable."
"That was one of the highlights of my career," says the actor.
And that career had its beginnings here in Philadelphia. Born in 1930, Prosky grew up in a large Polish family. They first lived on Fleming Street in Manayunk, then moved to Roxborough in 1945.
Prosky attended Roxborough High and later Temple University. His first stage experience came at age 15, when he had a role in Roxborough High’s production of Our Town.
Now, 60 plus years later, he’s again on the stage in his hometown. No wonder he felt nostalgic enough to take the R-6 train to Manayunk one recent afternoon. It’s the same train route he rode as a teenager going from Manayunk to the Earle Theater in Center City.
This time, he took a stroll along Main Street, marveling at the changes. And now that he’s a returning celebrity, people recognized him during his stroll.
"One truck stopped dead, and the driver yelled out, ‘Let’s do it to them before they do it to us!’" relates Prosky. It was one of his signature lines in Hill Street Blues.
On another day, the Walnut Street Theater arranged for him to visit radio station B-101, which is one of the media sponsors of the production. At the station, a large group of fans was waiting to greet him.
The unpretentious Manayunk native shuns the celebrity life. He lives in Washington, D.C.. with his wife Ida.
When he was doing Hill Street Blues, they lived in Los Angeles — "But I didn’t like the life of a pseudo-celebrity," he says.
And despite his successes and high profile on TV and in film, theater is still his first love.
"It’s one of life’s most civilized experiences," he says. "It’s good for the soul."
And now he’s enjoying one highlight of all those "civilized experiences" — performing in the Walnut’s production of The Price.
"It’s a great play in a great theater — and I get to work with my sons in my hometown," he says. "That’s one heck of a winning combination!" ••
The Walnut Street Theatre production of "The Price" continues through March 2 at 825 Walnut St. For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550 or online at www.WalnutStreetTheatre.org or Ticketmaster.