Irving appeared in the original Broadway production of 'Oklahoma' and voiced the character of Heat Miser in the animated 'The Year Without a Santa Claus.'

Actor George S. Irving, who won a Tony Award starring with Debbie Reynolds in the musical Irene and appeared in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma, died Monday at age 94.

He died in New York, said actor-director David Staller, Irving's friend.

Irving had several television and film credits, including appearances on All in the Family, Car 54 Where Are You?, Ryan's Hope and The Patty Duke Show. As a voice actor, he narrated the cartoon Underdog and played the Heat Miser in the animated The Year Without a Santa Claus.

He was also a regular in New York theater. Irving was nominated for a Tony for Broadway's Me and My Girl and appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Can-Can and the 1981 revival of The Pirates of Penzance.

Although retired, Irving's last role in 2015 was in the Staller-directed off-Broadway adaptation of Chekhov's short story Swan Song in which he played an aging actor.

"He was one of those Broadway legends who worked all the time," Staller said. "He was never a huge star. But everyone who knew him genuinely loved him."</s>George S, Irving, a fearless comic actor whose signature smile could turn into a smirk with the perfectly timed arch of an eyebrow, died December 26. Born George Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts, he was 94.

In 1973, Irving co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in a revised version of Irene, a 1919 rags-to-riches musical about a pretty city girl who helps flamboyant “Madame Lucy” (Irving) become a famous couturier. (The show also marked the Broadway debut of Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, who died this morning.) The show earned Irving the Tony Award for best performance by a featured actor in a musical; Reynolds was nominated for best actress in a musical.

By 1973 Irving was already established as a veteran character actor, seen on television sitcoms such as Car 54, Where Are You?, The Patty Duke Show and All In The Family; he had a run on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope; and in countless off-Broadway shows along with hit musicals. He appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Can-Can, Bells Are Ringing, Me And My Girl (Tony nomination) and, replacing George Rose, as Major General Stanley in Joseph Papp’s 1981 revival of The Pirates Of Penzance that starred Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt.

Irving was married to the actress Maria Karnilova, who created the role of Golde in Fiddler On The Roof, from 1948 until her death in 2001.

As a voice actor, Irving’s credits on animated shows included King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Underdog, The Year Without A Santa Claus and A Miser Brothers’ Christmas. In the early 1970s he was familar as the face of White Owl cigars.

Irving performed a solo cabaret show in 2008 and that year received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre. He is survived by two children and three grandchildren.</s>BroadwayWorld.com is sad to report the death of actor George S. Irving at 94 years old.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Irving was waving a beer mug in the chorus of a touring production of The Student Prince at the National Theatre in Washington. After that close brush with history, he went on to his Broadway debut in the original company of Oklahoma!

There followed a stint among the greatest generation, and when World War II closed he returned to the stage in Call Me Mister, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Tovarich, I Remember Mama, Me and Juliet, An Evening with Richard Nixon (Drama Desk Award), So Long, 174th Street, Irene (Tony Award), On Your Toes and Me and My Girl, among others. At the New York City Opera, he sang in Regina, Street Scene, The Ballad of Baby Doe and a German production of The Threepenny Opera. At Lucille Lortel's White Barn Theatre, he played in a two-person revue, Together at Last, with his late wife, Maria Karnilova, and a one-man show, An Evening with W.S. Gilbert.

In 2008 Irving recreated the three roles he originally played in the ill-fated 1976 Joseph Stein musical So Long, 174th Street, now reworked, revised, and with its original title Enter Laughing at Off-Broadway's York Theatre Company, and received rave reviews for his rendition of "The Butler's Song". On December 8, 2008, aged 86, Irving received the 17th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

For an extensive inter view with Irving, timed to celebrations in 2004 of his 60th anniversary in the business, click here.

Irving was married to actress Maria Karnilova from 1948 until her death in 2001. They had a son, Alexander of Oceanside, California, a daughter, Katherine Irving of South Salem, New York, and three grandchildren.</s>Broadway vet George S. Irving died on December 26. He was 94. Best known for his character roles on the Main Stem, he won a Tony in 1973 for Irene.

 

 The son of Abraham and Rebecca Shelasky, Irving was born George Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 1, 1922. A boy soprano in his youth, Irving made his Broadway debut in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!, before being drafted days later to serve in the second World War.

 

 Along with the Tony for starring opposite Debbie Reynolds in Irene, Irving received a Tony nod for Sir John in 1987’s Me and My Girl. He has a massive 32 Broadway credits, including On Your Toes, The Pirates of Penzance, Once in a Lifetime, Can-Can and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

 

 More recently, he appeared off-Broadway in 2008 in the acclaimed Enter Laughing; that same year he was also honored with the 17th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

 

 Married to Maria Karnilova from 1948 until her death in 2001, Irving is survived by their son, Alexander, daughter, Katherine and three grandchildren.
American Actor George S. Irving, best known for being one of the last members of the original production of Oklahoma! and voicing Heat Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus, dies at age 94.