Fielding, Harold, 1916-2003

Harold Lewis Fielding; born December 4, 1916, Woking, Surrey, England; died September 27, 2003, Kingston upon Thames, England; English theatre producer. Fielding was one of Britain's foremost theatrical producers who produced several musicals, including Mame, Charlie Girl, Half a Sixpence, Show Boat, Scarlett, Barnum, Sweet Charity, The Biograph Girl, and Ziegfeld. He also produced "Music for the Millions", a touring variety show. The son of a stockbroker, Fielding was educated privately.As a child prodigy, he studied violin with Josef Szigeti.He also handled Tommy Steele's early career, and commissioned Half a Sixpence for him. His office was Fielding House, 53-54 Haymarket, London. He was interviewed by Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 17 June 1990. In 1996, Fielding was awarded a Gold Badge from BASCA in recognition of his special contribution to Britain's entertainment industry. Fielding married Maisie Joyce Skivens in 1955, and was widowed in 1985. They had no children.
He suffered a series of strokes in 1998, and retired to a private nursing home in Kingston upon Thames, where he died.

Harold Fielding (1916-2003) was one of the foremost producers of stage musicals in Britain from the 1950s to the 1980s. After some success as an orchestral and concert promoter he made his first foray into musical theater in 1958 with a staged version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at the London Coliseum. Among his most successful theater productions were the original Half a Sixpence (1963), Charlie Girl (1965), the London versions of Sweet Charity (1967), and Mame (1969).