Joel Grey Looks At "Unexamined Things"
Not far from Broadway, theater legend Joel Grey is starring in another show — this time as a photographer.
After more than 65 years in show business, the actor, singer and multi-award-winner has developed a second career. He's been shooting pictures for about 35 years. Before taking his photography to a more serious level, Grey, known best for his Tony- and Oscar-winning role as the Master of Ceremonies in "Cabaret," said he didn't go public with his photography until he was reassured that it was actually good.
"Well, I actually went to every art person that I knew and I said, 'don't let me make a fool of myself,'" he told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. "Tell me not to do this. And nobody dissuaded me."
His first book, "Pictures I Had to Take," was published four years ago. In his second collection, called "Looking Hard At Unexamined Things," Grey focuses on the details: Graffiti, iron works, a doorway — things he finds all around him, often near his home in New York City, making ordinary things look like abstract art.
Grey's performances, first on stage in 1966 and then on film six years later, earned him almost every acting award there is. He began performing as a child in Cleveland where he was born Joel Katz. His father was the Yiddish comic and musician Mickey Katz. His mother was a stage mom who urged him on. By the age of nine, he was acting professionally.
"I got laughs from the audience," he said. "I heard the audience cry. I had a death scene. And then there was an epilogue in which I came back to life. Now who wouldn't want to be an actor? I was so successful in Cleveland, and we moved to Los Angeles and there was nothing for me to do. All of a sudden, from being a success I was a has-been at 13."
But he kept performing. Eventually, the entertainer Eddie Cantor saw him in a variety show, and put Joel on national television. His career was launched. But it wasn't the career he'd imagined.Photos: Joel Grey
"I never thought I would sing or dance — ever, ever, ever," he said. "My idea was to be Laurence Olivier, or Peter Lorre, or some great classical actor. I thought I'd be a character actor."
It was the character of "Cabaret"'s M.C. that made Grey a star. After years replacing other actors in Broadway shows, Grey finally got a chance to create a role of his own and the M.C. became a very important character in the history of American film and theater.
"I think he's so inviting, and so appealing, and so fascinating, and so revolting, and so distancing, and so scary," Grey said. "Now that's a lot of stuff to be responsible for!"
Grey was responsible for hit after hit on Broadway. He was dandy as George M. Cohan in "George M." He stopped the show in the revival of "Chicago." And he was wonderful in "Wicked" as the Wizard of Oz.
He turns 75 this month, but retirement isn't in the picture. He is still appearing everywhere, like a recent guest appearance on the FOX medical drama, "House."
Daughter Jennifer Grey, who starred as Baby in "Dirty Dancing," is the third generation of performers in the family. She says she has taken a great deal from her father's career.
"I learned a lot," she said. "I've learned how brutal show business is. I've learned how painful it is to be an artist. I've learned to relish and cherish that, because it is like lightning in a bottle."
Grey discouraged his daughter and said he was terrified to see her enter the business.
"It's very hard," he said, "and you never want anything hard for your kid. I did everything I could [to convince her otherwise.]"
But she said she didn't think she could do anything else, and went on to star in some very successful movies.
Grey, who's divorced, spends part of his time in Venice, Calif., working, seeing his granddaughter, and always taking pictures — something that he says is just for him even though it's now getting public recognition.
"Somebody saw my work and they said, 'you should do something with this,'" he said. "And I said, 'I did, I took the pictures.'"