Fighter pilot, actor from Edgewood led CLO's resurgence
Wilford Lloyd "Bill" Thunhurst Jr., who served as Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's managing director from 1971 to 1983, died of cancer Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, in Presbyterian Senior Care in Oakmont. He was 90.
"He was a very personable and talented guy. He had great stage presence, acting ability and directing ability that went beyond his being a business guy," said Fred Sargent, the former CEO of Sargent Electric who was Mr. Thunhurst's friend for 45 years.
"He was one of those characters you never forget. He had a great sense of humor. He was a great storyteller. He was a personality, creative."
An Edgewood native, Mr. Thunhurst served in World War II as a fighter pilot, then returned home to study drama at then Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University.
In 1948, after graduation, he moved to New York City where he worked in theater and television for more than 10 years. He appeared in early television shows that included "Kraft Television Theater," "Armstrong Circle Theater," "Philco Playhouse" and the original "Phil Silvers Show." His theater credits include a role in the original Broadway production of "South Pacific."
In later years, he returned to acting with roles in locally shot movies such as "Lorenzo's Oil" and "Backstreet Justice."
He returned to Pittsburgh in 1961 as an advertising executive for Gulf Oil.
When he became managing director of the Civic Light Opera in 1971, the musical theater company was deeply in debt and had not produced a show since its final season in the Civic Arena in 1969.
"Bill brought the Civic Light Opera out of the darkness and into the bright lights of Heinz Hall," said Charles Gray, whom Mr. Thunhurst hired to directed the 1977 season shows. "He had this passion for theater as someone who has been on Broadway has to have -- that ebullience and upbeat sense of life that he had."
As head of the Civic Light Opera, he won the lifelong affections of those just starting out in theater.
"We called him 'Uncle Bill.' He was my mentor," said Mindy Rossi-Stabler, who first worked with Mr. Thunhurst in 1975. "I learned more at CLO than I ever learned in my life. He always took care of me and headed me in the right direction."
"For us, he was the David Merrick of Pittsburgh," said film and theater director and choreographer Rob Marshall, who began his professional career as one of the Von Trapp children in Civic Light Opera's 1973 production of "The Sound of Music." "He was what you imagine a producer would be -- dashing, kind, fatherly, so in love with musical theater and so passionate about what musicals could do."
Mr. Thunhurst continued sharing his love and knowledge of theater throughout his life, said his longtime friend Donna Perkins. As late as November, he was teaching an occasional master acting class for adults at Presbyterian Senior Care, where he was living.
"Theater was central and integral to his being," Perkins said.
Survivors include his daughter, Debra Huston, and granddaughters, Jenny and Hannah, who live in California, and his longtime partner, Marta Habermann.
According to Mr. Thunhurst's wishes, he will be cremated, and there will be no funeral. Plans for a memorial service are incomplete.
