Charles Robert Hartung was born in Mount Vernon, Iowa on March 6, 1917. Bob, as he was known, showed an early interest in the theater. He spent his childhood writing plays and acting them out in his garage with the help of the neighborhood children. Bob attended Mount Vernon High School, appearing in numerous plays, and graduated in 1935. In 1936, he was awarded a scholarship to the National Little Theater Movement's Summer Theater Colony when he was 19 years old. He performed in several productions at the camp, and then began work at Cornell University. Bob was pledged into the Cornell Purple Masquers, an acting troupe, and worked with them. In 1939, Bob took his final bow on the Cornell stage as the stage manager in Thorton Wilder's Our Town . He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Speech in 1939. Bob then went on to do graduate work at Yale in 1939 to earn his MFA. During his Yale years, he spent his summers as a guest director at Cornell University. Bob took a break from his graduate studies to head the drama department at Simpson College. He then resumed his work at Yale and was given a position on the staff. Bob earned his MFA in 1942. In 1943, he again guest directed at the Cornell Summer Theater and performed for the Cain Park Theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Bob joined the Theodora Irvine Studio in 1944 and staged several productions as well as performed in various others. That same year, he was featured in Quicksand, by Theodore Tiller II, as Peter Simington at the Chanin Theater in New York City. He also played the part of a townsperson in Our Town at the City Center of Music in New York City. In a production of The Cherry Orchard, he played several bit parts and was understudy for the parts of Gaev and Lopanin. During the production of The Cherry Orchard, Bob worked with Eva LeGalliene (with whom he would work with again in the Hallmark Hall of Fame series) and met his future friend and writing partner, Madeleine L'Engle. In 1945, Bob played more bit parts in a production of Othello . That same year, Bob went on tour with the company of Hamlet, starring Maurice Evans (with whom he also worked with in the Hallmark series), as the understudy for Bernardo and as an assistant stage manager. During this time, Bob and Madeleine L'Engle penned the play, Little Hell, together. In 1946, Little Hell was produced by the Columbia Theater Associates of Columbia University and was very successful. Also that year, Bob was assigned to an associate membership in the Dramatist Guild of the Authors League of America, Inc. In 1948, he became a director at the Bard College in Annandale-on-the-Hudson, New York. He also directed several plays at the Theodora Irvine Studio that year. In 1949, Theodora Irvine suffered a stroke. To keep he studio running, she granted Bob the power of attorney and appointed him director until she could resume her duties. Miss Irvine recovered quickly and Bob returned to Broadway in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as Curio at the Empire Theater. Between 1950 and 1954, Bob traveled the country appearing as a guest director at many different theaters. In 1954, he broke into the television world as the associate director of The Sid Caesar Show and Your Lucky Strike Hit Parade .
In 1955, Bob's multi-talents were snapped up by NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame series. Bob produced, associate produced, and even directed many of Hallmark's productions. His most important job for the series, though, was adapting the works of playwrights for television. His work with Hallmark earned Bob three Emmy awards and eight nominations. He also won three Writers Guild Awards and four Directors Guild Awards. Bob's thriving television career didn't stop his work in the theater. In 1956, he directed The Seven Year Itch and All On a Summer Day at the Spa Summer Theater in Saratoga Springs, New York. And in 1957, Bob directed The Old Maid at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton, Long Island, New York. More importantly, in 1955, Bob directed the off-Broadway hit, Teach Me How To Cry by Patricia Joudry, at the Theater de Lys. The play won rave reviews. Bob returned to his work at NBC. In 1968, Bob Hartung left the Hallmark Hall of Fame as well as a string of critically acclaimed productions.
In 1972, following a five-year stint in Hollywood, Bob arrived at the University of New Mexico as the chairman of the brand-new theater arts department. Bob shaped the fledgling department into a successful program before he stepped down from his position in 1978 to concentrate on directing and teaching. He then began a playwriting program as well as a reader's theater so that students could create and hear their own works. In 1980, the Drama Department had grown four times its initial size. That same year, Bob organized the first Rodey Playfest, where students performed their original works for the first time. During his career at UNM, Bob directed a number of successful plays an affected his students' lives with his nurturing and generous nature. Bob even played a large role in the Broadway success of one student -- Patti Cohenour. Bob told Patti that she was too beautiful and talented for the local theaters; he told her to leave UNM and Albuquerque and head for the bright lights of Broadway. Patti followed his advice and walked into the coveted role of Christine Daae in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (she was the first American to be cast in that role). Bob's major productions at UNM included Stephen Sondheim's Follies in 1986, Thorton Wilder's Our Town in 1989, and Tome Jones's and Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks in 1989. While directing Our Town and The Fantasticks, Bob organized a campaign for the Robert Hartung Endowed Playwriting Program. The program called for a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University's theater arts departments, expanding the New Play Marathon, a three year old play-reading program involving both UNM and NMSU, the permanent establishment of the Rodey New Playfest and the New Play Studio, and a semester-long course that brought together the elements of acting, set design, directing, and playwriting. The program's committee was headed by Patti Cohenour as chairperson, and Tyne Daly Brown, David Cryer, Joan H. Frank, Julie Harris, Madeleine L'Engle, Adrienne Luraschi, Tony Award winning playwright Mark Medoff, George Schaefer, Robinson Stone, Daniel Travanti, Sybil Trubin, and Gordon R. Wynne. At the same time, on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angelos, California, Michael Ross, a former student, decide to open his own theater. In January 1990, Ross opened the doors to the Robert Hartung Theater, named affectionately for "Daddy Bob." In the spring semester of 1991, Bob retired with a bang when he was 73 years old. The University of New Mexico threw a huge retirement party which they lovingly dubbed the "Dr. Bobfest." Former students (including Patti Cohenour), colleagues, and friends, came to honor Daddy Bob for his unfailing love, support, and inspiration. Retirement didn't stop Bob from being active in the theater -- he continued to involve himself in various productions. Robert Hartung died on March 9, 1999 at the age of 81.
From the guide to the Robert Hartung Papers, 1934-1996, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)
