Harvey Cocks, Jr., Fort Wayne theatre huge, can take his ultimate bow

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – As a youthful guy, Harvey Cocks Jr. established out for New York Metropolis to enjoy the only part in life he understood:

That of an actor and entertainer.

As an more mature gentleman in Fort Wayne, he located the roles he was really born to engage in:

That of an artist, a teacher, a chief, a partner and father and friend and, in this city’s theater circles, an absolute legend.

The former executive director of the Fort Wayne Youtheatre died Thursday at the age of 96.

“Harvey Cocks Jr. has taken his last bow and left the phase,” the Youtheatre declared in a media release.

Born April 3, 1925, Cocks’ family arrived to Fort Wayne initial in 1929 and then all over again in 1939, according to Youtheatre. His father was a promotor for Paramount Shots prior to getting over the Emboyd Theatre, which is now the Embassy.

So the phase was in Cocks’ blood from an early age.

Immediately after significant university he handed up a opportunity to go to Carnegie Tech, which is now Carnegie Mellon, and headed for New York Metropolis and Broadway. He bought on his initially Broadway show just a handful of days off the bus, according to Youtheatre, and ultimately gained a location on the authentic Lifestyle with Father.

Cocks acted for three-and-a-50 % decades on that display, which is even now the longest running engage in in Broadway history.

In 1958 he married fellow actress and dancer Jean Hansen. The pair experienced two small children. After his father passed absent, Cocks moved his family to Fort Wayne to just take in excess of Quimby Village, which his father owned at the time.

Cocks believed the go would be brief, but his wife certain him to elevate the young ones in Fort Wayne.

In 1977, the Fort Wayne Youtheatre came calling. The group necessary a new director, and Cocks agreed to the gig. He all over again considered it would something brief, but as an alternative it turned into his life’s function.

For the duration of his tenure, he taught thousands of college students in over 800 Saturdays of acting lessons and directed hundreds of plays, in accordance to Youtheatre officials. He wrote numerous of the performs himself, together with just one identified as The Boy from Fairmount, which chronicled the daily life of James Dean.

He taught his remaining class in 2019 at the age of 94, and remained a regular presence at the theatre, coming in about three times a 7 days until eventually the world pandemic designed that unattainable.

“Harvey was the heart and soul of Youtheatre for in excess of 40 several years, passionately believing in and promoting the social and instructional benefit of theatre arts in the lives of young folks,” Todd Espeland, govt and creative director of the theatre, reported in a media release. “They say accomplishment is realized by standing on the shoulders of giants. Harvey Cocks was definitely 1 of those people giants.”

Youtheatre strategies to honor and rejoice Cocks in the times to come, according to the organization’s Fb website page.

He is survived by his children, Ann and Christopher, moreover “countless friends who rightly look at him loved ones,” Youtheatre officers mentioned.