Joel Grey

Joel Grey (born April 11, 1932) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Tony Award winning American stage and screen actor. Grey originated the role of the Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway musical Cabaret in 1966 for which he won the Tony Award. Additional Broadway credits include Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (1962), Half a Sixpence (1965), Goodtime Charley (1975), The Grand Tour (1979), Chicago (1996), and Wicked (2003). Grey was born Joel Katz in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Grace and Mickey Katz, who was an actor, clarinetist, comedian and director. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California in 1950. He is the father of actress Jennifer Grey, the star of Dirty Dancing, and James, a chef. In 1958 he married Jo Wilder. They divorced in 1982. Grey's other occupation is his life-long avocation--photography. His first book of photographs, Pictures I Had to Take, was published in 2003; its follow-up, Looking Hard at Unexpected Things, appeared in the Fall of 2006.