Rick Lenz - Early Career

Early Career

Educated at the University of Michigan and New York University, Rick Lenz directed the Jackson, Michigan Civic Theater for two years before going to New York to seek work as an actor. In 1965, at the age of 25, he made his Broadway debut in Mating Dance, starring Van Johnson. That show closed on opening night, but it was also Lenz’s big break; stage producer David Merrick was in the audience and soon afterward cast him in the Broadway hit, Cactus Flower as understudy to the juvenile lead, Igor Sullivan. Lenz later took over the role and played it for a year. Film producer Mike Frankovich and Walter Matthau saw him in the part and cast him as Igor in the movie version of Cactus Flower (1969), in which he co-starred opposite Goldie Hawn as well as Matthau and Ingrid Bergman.

In the 1970s, Rick Lenz appeared in several Hollywood movies, including the Disney film, Scandalous John; Where Does It Hurt?, opposite Peter Sellers; Little Dragons, directed by Curtis Hanson; John Wayne’s last movie, The Shootist; Jonathan Demme’s Melvin and Howard and How Do I Love Thee?, based on the novel by Peter DeVries and starring Jackie Gleason and Maureen O'Hara.