How old is conrad birdie

See more at IMDbPro. Trailer Bye Bye Birdie. Video The Evolution of Nerds. Photos Top cast Edit. Dick Van Dyke Albert F. Peterson as Albert F. Milton Frome Mr. Maude as Mr. Trudi Ames Ursula as Ursula.

George Sidney. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. Aspiring chemist and song writer Albert is convinced he can make his fortune and marry his girlfriend Rosie if he gets Conrad on the Ed Sullivan show to kiss a high school girl goodbye. Albert's mother will do anything to break him up with Rosie.

Kim and Hugo, the high school steadies, live in Sweet Apple, Ohio where most of the action takes place. Did you know Edit. Trivia Director George Sidney was so taken with the talent of Ann-Margret that when the film was edited he went to Columbia's executives and proposed the opening and closing bumpers that would showcase her. They refused to pay for any additional filming, so Sidney rented the studio and crew at his own expense.

When was Bye Bye Birdie filmed? Merkle 39 — 49 — Ursula's overbearing and excitable mother. Also doubles in the ensemble. How tall is Jesse Pearson? Height 6' 3" 1. Who played Ursula in Bye Bye Birdie?

What happened to Jesse Pearson? When Pearson was diagnosed with cancer, he moved to Monroe, Louisiana, to be near his mother, and died there on December 5, , aged How old is Ann Margret biography? Ann-Margret received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in for her contributions to the film industry. She was also chosen by Empire magazine in as one of the sexiest stars in the history of cinema. Is Ann Margret still alive?

Conrad Birdie was a parody of Elvis Presley, and the musical was based upon the furor that arose from Presley's being drafted in The character's name, however, was the result of composer Charles Strouse's and lyricist Lee Adams' decision that the name of singer Conway Twitty was far more humorous and safer to parody than Presley's. Ironically, the show's producers originally wanted Presley for the role of Conrad Birdie.

Presley was interested, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, refused to let Presley play a role spoofing himself. Dick Gautier went on to originate the role on stage. Stapleton was very clear in the book that her intention was not to imply that her young colleague was promiscuous; rather, it was to save her from a lot of unpleasant and unwanted attention.

Finally choreographer-director Gower Champion suggested building a box-like shelf unit with oddly shaped sections the actors could occupy while performing.

As each actor sang their part the light in their section would be turned on then off as the next actor sang. The song that made Dick Van Dyke's career, "Put on a Happy Face", was unsuccessful in early stage previews, and was almost cut from the production.

The creative team found a different spot for it in the musical, and it played beautifully. Rita Moreno was the initial choice for the role of Rosie, but turned down the part. Had she accepted, it would have been the second time that she played a role on film that Chita Rivera had originated on stage -- the first being Anita in West Side Story.

In the movie, Dick Van Dyke's character wants to be a chemist, but his mother wants him to write songs. He had never managed to sell a song, but was about to sell his first one when Birdie is drafted. In the stage play, he had started out to be a simple English teacher, but has been sidelined by a long and profitable association with Birdie -- and Rosie has a song to that effect. Neither chemistry nor the Russian Ballet shows up in either the stage version or the tv movie remake Bye Bye Birdie Leigh is shown in full medium shot in her bra, she says, "He's all the things I wanna get away from.

Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde, both veterans of the Broadway hit, were displeased with the film version. Van Dyke especially felt it had become too much of a vehicle for Ann-Margret.

In the Broadway version of the show, Albert, Van Dyke's role, was much more prominent than that of Kim, Ann-Margret's role in the film. In his autobiography, Van Dyke said he knew Ann-Margret's role was going to be expanded when he once came on the set and found her sitting in director George Sidney's lap. Interestingly, in HER autobiography, Ann-Margret mentions being cast in the role and that the film was a big hit, but makes absolutely no mention of anything that happened during the filming.

Of course, it's possible that she was unaware of any tensions on the part of her costars. Ironically, Bobby Rydell, who plays the timid Hugo Peabody, was himself a national teen idol before and after the film's production. In fact, in contrast to the original stage musical where Michael J.

Pollard played the role, the part of Hugo was expanded significantly in the film to accommodate his teen celebrity.