Alexander Scourby papers

1940-1989

Although he had a long and varied career as an actor and narrator, Alexander Scourby (1913-1985), considered his most important work to be the performances he gave as a voice actor in the Talking Books recordings he made for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Of Greek heritage, Scourby was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father worked as a restaurateur and commercial baker. In 1931, he graduated from the Brooklyn Manual Training High School. He had developed an interest in writing and performing while in high school, serving as co-editor of the school magazine and yearbook and making his first appearance on stage in a school production of The Meanest Man in the World. Scourby briefly attended the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia, but returned to New York in February 1932 to help out with the family business following the death of his father.

In 1933, Scourby became an apprentice with the Civic Repertory Theatre, run by Eva Le Galliene, where he received a thorough professional training. He made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Player King in the Leslie Howard production of Hamlet. It was through cast mate, Wesley Addy, that Scourby was introduced to the opportunities offered by the American Foundation for the Blind. Scourby auditioned for the AFB in 1937, and, after playing a few small parts in recordings of plays, he soon found a niche in which he could utilize his impressive speaking voice by reading novels and other works of literature for the Talking Books service. Over the next forty years, he would provide the narration for over 500 books. His best known recording became the full set of the King James version of the Bible (1966).

Scourby also began working extensively in radio during the 1940s, with recurring roles on several soap operas and regular appearances on the NBC weekly religious program, The Eternal Light. Scourby also did broadcasts in Greek and English for the Office of War Information during the Second World War. In 1943, he married Lori von Eltz, an actress who went by the professional name of Lori March. The two occasionally worked together on theater, film, and television projects. Scourby remained active in summer stock and New York theater throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. Notable productions in which he was featured included Rodney Ackland's adaptation of Crime and Punishment (1947) with Claude Rains, Detective Story (1949), Darkness at Noon (1951), and the Theatre Guild revival of Saint Joan (1951) with Uta Hagen.

During the 1950s, Scourby began to work more often as an actor in films, frequently playing villains. Among his films were Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Big Heat (1953), Ransom (1956), and Giant (1956). He also worked increasingly in television as both an actor and narrator. His television credits as an actor include Playhouse 90, Circle Theater, and Studio One. As a narrator, he was associated with the NBC television series, Project 20, for many years. Although his work in film and television saw Scourby dividing his time between California and New York, by the 1960s he actively sought employment doing television commercial voice-overs in order to spend more time on the East Coast. In later years, Scourby and his wife maintained a residence in Manhattan and a country home in Newtown, Connecticut.

In addition to continuing to record Talking Books, both for the AFB and Lectern Records, a company he founded, Scourby also worked steadily as a narrator of documentary, educational, and promotional films during the final two decades of his life. In 1983, he became the host of the public television series, Live from the Met. It was while he was in Boston, taping his segments as the host for a National Public Radio broadcast of Handel's oratorio, Semele, that Scourby unexpectedly took ill and died.