Bill Craver was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, on August 23, 1931. He died peacefully on November 8, 2018, in Austin, Texas. He graduated from Texas High and studied for two years at Texarkana College, before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin. He loved the Theatre and entered the Drama Department at UT Austin, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Drama. After serving for two years in the U. S. Army in California and Okinawa, he returned to UT Austin and earned a Master's Degree in Directing. He soon moved to New York City in 1956 and spent the next 58 years working on Broadway and Off-Broadway as a general manager, company manager, producer and agent.
Bill began his professional, theatrical career working for legendary producer Saint Subber on Neil Simon’s play, Come Blow Your Horn. He then worked as the company manager for the original Broadway productions of Neil Simon’s most famous plays, The Odd Couple, Barefoot in The Park, and Plaza Suite. He also company managed the 1967 revival of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. All were directed by Mike Nichols.
Bill produced Mark Medoff’s play, The Wager, Off-Broadway at the Eastside Playhouse (Medoff went on to write the Tony Award winning play, Children of a Lesser God, which Bill later represented as an agent). Bill also produced the films The Fantastic Seven, Somebody Killed Her Husband, and The Dain Curse.
For 40 of his 58 years in New York City, Bill worked as a theatrical, literary agent representing playwrights, composers, lyricists, and directors. Three of his clients won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama (Jonathan Larson for Rent, David Auburn for Proof, and Robert Schenkkan for The Kentucky Cycle). Many others won multiple Tony and Drama Critics Circle Awards for shows like M. Butterfly, Proof, Children of a Lesser God, Urinetown, the 1996 revival of Chicago, the 1992 revival of Guys & Dolls, and Passing Strange, to name a few. In addition to being a prolific agent, he also co-owned and was a partner in Writers and Artists Agency until Paradigm acquired the firm in 2004.
Bill served on the boards of The American Theatre Wing (The Tony Awards), Dramatists Play Service, and The Jonathan Larson Foundation. In 2013, he received a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
Bill was a terrific storyteller and had a piercing wit. He will be missed greatly by his family and friends, who knew him to be a true gentleman of the Theatre. He is predeceased by his parents, Ruth and Howard Craver, his sister, Virginia Craver Dinsmore, his brother-in-law, Bill Dinsmore, and his niece Stacy Bales. He is survived by his sister, Jane Craver Kennon; his brother-in-law, Garland Kennon; his nephew, David Bales; his nephew Stephen Kennon and his wife Jana, their son, Matt, and his wife, Inna; his niece, Diane Kennon Shrull and her husband Steve, and their sons Brian, David and daughter Katie.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the University of Texas, Austin, Drama Department, to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, to the Jonathan Larson Foundation, or to the American Theatre Wing. Please direct any comments or memories of Bill to: Michael Moore Agency, 450 West 24th Street, Suite 1C, New York, NY 10011.
