TOTHEROH, MORRISON

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 06:03:27 :

Independent Journal
Saturday, December 4, 1976
Page 4

DAN TOTHEROH, 83, actor, playwright

Dan Totheroh, whose name long has been synonymous with the Mountain Play atop Mount Tamalpais, died yesterday of a stroke in an Oakland rest home. He was 83.

Totheroh was an actor, playwright, novelist, and screenwriter, with a career stretching from youthful performances on the state in San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake to Broadway hits to major screenplays in Hollywood’s early “talkie” days.

The Mountain Play Association will conduct a memorial gathering – weather permitting – for Totheroh 1 p.m. on Dec. 12 at the Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater, site of the annual Mountain Play performances. Totheroh wrote three of the plays, “Tamalpa,” “Rough and Ready,” and “Flamenca.”

A native of Oakland, Totheroh attended San Rafael High School then fought in Europe during World War I. He lived in New York, Hollywood, Europe and Carmel before returning to live in Marin and direct the Mountain Play from 1957 to 1970. He moved to Berkeley three years ago.

Marion Hayes Cain of San Anselmo, former president of the Mountain Play Association, reported he had been in failing health recently.

His collection of theatrical literature and mementoes has gone to Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Totheroh got his first starring role by writing a one-act play, “Pearls,” and playing the lead. His association with the Mountain Play began in 1915 with an acting role.

His first Broadway play was “Wild Birds,” the first play reviewed in the first issue of t he New Yorker. The play ran into police censorship in San Francisco in 1925, however, because it used the word “slut.” Totheroh changed it to “hussy,” but the actor who had the line got flustered and exclaimed, “you slussy.”

In addition to other Broadway successes, he also published several novels and many plays and stories for children.

Totheroh was married to Kay Morrison, a well-known New York dress designer. She died many years ago. His older brother, Rollie Totheroh, was Charlie Chaplin’s cameraman throughout the comedian’s Hollywood career. Totheroh leaves no immediate family.