Morton Da Costa Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Morton Da Costa was born in Philadelphia in 1914, he was a theater and film director, film producer, writer and actor. He decided to become a teacher and attended Temple University, where he took acting courses and became assistant to the head of the acting department. Read the full biography

Morton Da Costa was born in Philadelphia in 1914, he was a theater and film director, film producer, writer and actor. He decided to become a teacher and attended Temple University, where he took acting courses and became assistant to the head of the acting department. After graduation, he toured with the Clare Tree Major Children's Theater in New York. In 1942, Da Costa appeared on Broadway in Thornton Wilder's ''The Skin of Our Teeth,'' with Tallulah Bankhead and Fredric March. As a director, just as he had previously done as an actor, Mr. Da Costa has taken on all manner of assignments, from musicals to directing plays to dramas. In 1960 he directed the stage version of ''The Wall,'' John Hersey's tale of the Warsaw Ghetto in wartime Poland, and, in 1973, he undertook to stage a revival of the play by Clare Booth Luce ''The Women''.
Among the scores of shows and films directed by Morton Da Costa were four stage productions that made him one of Broadway's most acclaimed directors. They were ''Plain and Fancy,'' a musical about the Amish, and ''No Time for Sergeants,'' an Army comedy, in 1955; “Auntie Mame” in 1956 and, in 1957, “The Music Man,” Meredith Willson's popular musical about a hustler in a small town. His credits included a series of productions at City Center, where, under the aegis of Maurice Evans, he staged such plays as ''The Alchemist'' with Jose Ferrer; ''Dream Girl'' with Judy Holliday,'' and ''She Stoops to Conquer'' with Brian Aherne and Burl Ives. For two seasons he directed musicals for the St. Louis Musical Opera. He was a co-founder of the Civic Repertory Theater in Dayton, Ohio, and had operated his own summer theater in Cragsmoor, N.Y.
His last directorial effort on Broadway, in 1985, was for David Wiltse's comedy "Doubles." After moving to Connecticut in the mid-1970s for what he called "semi-retirement," he was active in the Darien Dinner Theater and Westport Theater Artists' Workshop. He was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of 10 children in the Tecosky family. Mr. Da Costa later directed the successful film versions of ''Auntie Mame'' and ''The Music Man''. He died in 1989.