Jack Hofsiss, Tony-Winning Director of The Elephant Man, Dies at 65

Jack Hofsiss, a Tony Award winner for directing the original production of The Elephant Man, has died at the age of 65, according to Deadline. His death was confirmed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.

Hofsiss was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, where he attended a Jesuit high school. It was there that Hofsiss learned to find a balance between faith and his sexuality. In a 2000 interview with The Advocate, he said, “They shared the fact that ultimately your relationship to God is your own thing, that you can be gay and have a relationship with the God of the Catholic church.” Similar themes appeared in the 2000 off-Broadway play he directed, Avow.

While studying at Georgetown University, Hofsiss created the show Senior Prom, which ended up running locally at the O Street Theatre and was briefly considered for a New York transfer.

After directing the TV mini-series The Best of Families, Hofsiss helmed The Elephant Man on Broadway, earning him a 1979 Tony and Drama Desk Award at the age of 28. He went on to direct Total Abandon and The Shadow Box on the Great White Way. He returned to the screen to direct an episode of 3 by Cheever, as well as The Oldest Living Graduate and the 1982 film I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can.

In 1985, Hofsiss suffered a severe spinal cord injury after diving into a shallow pool, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. While the incident left him in a wheelchair and in a period of severe depression, it ultimately did not stop his career, beginning with his return to stage work the following year with All the Way Home at the Berkshire Theatre Festival