Theater critic Harry Hargrave dies

Reviewer was known for fairness, knowledge

RALEIGH -- Harry Allen Hargrave had plenty of complaints about Triangle theater productions during his many years as a freelance critic for The News & Observer. But it was his passion for theater that local actors recalled when they heard Hargrave had died Tuesday at age 77.

"He was always fair, and he was always fun," Theatre in the Park's executive director, Ira David Wood III, said Friday. "He could make you laugh about so many things, and you learned through that humor a lot of lessons."

Hargrave reviewed a wide range of productions for more than a decade before retiring quietly from the work in 2001. He was the first to review Broadway actress Lauren Kennedy, who was then 15 and performing alongside adults in a dinner theater production of "Bye Bye Birdie."

Hargrave wrote that the Raleigh teen performed with "secure aplomb" and that her solo was "ironic, naive and grand."

"I will never forget that," Kennedy said Friday in a phone interview from New York. "You never want to say that those things matter to you, but they do. You do read them, and of course the younger you are the more impressionable you are and the more it means to you if someone has accepted what you've done. It was a real confidencebooster for me."

Born in Nashville, Tenn., Hargrave graduated from Nashville's George Peabody College for Teachers in 1948 before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as private first class in the C Company, 14th Infantry Battalion, in the Korean War, according to an obituary written by a member of his church. After his honorable discharge from the military, he attended Vanderbilt University, earning bachelor's and master's degrees and a Ph.D. He became an English instructor and eventually associate professor at N.C. State University, specializing in Victorian literature.

In addition to drama and film, Hargrave adored mystery novels, according to retired N&O theater and film critic Bill Morrison.

"He was this really gentle man who came alive when he was either in a theater or reading a mystery," Morrison said. "He loved mysteries of all kinds, from the English cozies to the gloriously complex, like [Dorothy L.] Sayers or P.D. James."

Hargrave was active at Christ Episcopal Church, associate rector John Rohrs said. He belonged to the Theology-Lite book club. He was an usher, lay reader and lay Eucharistic minister. And he was instrumental in setting up a church-based AIDS care team, which was uncommon at the time.

He typically arrived up to 45 minutes before services to ensure he'd get a good seat, said Rohrs, who looked forward to coming around the corner and seeing Hargrave's smiling face.

"He was just a really warm, gentle man and such a kind soul," Rohrs said.

While at NCSU, Hargrave made frequent trips to London, where he indulged in as much theater as he could, Morrison said. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of theater and loved talking about it. If there was a trace of warrior left in him, it was in the battle to keep theater audiences growing.

"He always believed that if we don't work now to build an audience, there won't be an audience in the next generation," Morrison said, "and with the lost audience may be something lost in our lives."

Hargrave lived in Raleigh. He died at Wake Medical Center. His cause of death was unavailable Friday. He will be buried at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh. A reception celebrating his life will follow in the parish hall of Christ Church at 120 E. Edenton St.; Brown-Wynne Funeral Home is making the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, Raleigh Little Theatre or N.C. State University.