For example, he appeared both as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests and as a panelist on that popular Sunday night CBS-TV program.
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While he kept active in Broadway shows, Reilly would soon become better known for his TV work, appearing regularly on television in the 1960s. In 1964, Reilly was featured in the original cast of yet another giant Broadway success, Hello, Dolly! For originating the role of Cornelius Hackl, Reilly received a second nomination for a Tony Award for performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical. For his memorable origination of the role of Bud Frump, Reilly earned a 1962 Tony Award for featured actor in a musical.
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In 1961, Reilly was in the original cast of another big Broadway hit, the Pulitzer prize-winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In the groundbreaking musical, Reilly had a small onstage part, and was the standby for Dick Van Dyke in the leading role of Albert Peterson. His big break came in 1960 with the enormously successful original Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie. Reilly appeared in many Off Broadway productions. He was a regular and popular performer in comic roles for several summer seasons in the 1950s at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Reilly made his film debut in 1957, with an uncredited role in A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan, though most of his early career was spent on the stage. He was good friends with opera singers Renée Fleming, Rod Gilfry, Roberta Peters and Eileen Farrell. He directed opera productions for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera and Santa Fe Opera among others. However, opera remained a lifelong passion and he was a frequent guest on opera-themed radio programs, including the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. He entered the Hartt School of Music as a voice major but eventually abandoned this pursuit when he realized that he lacked the natural vocal talent to have a major career. Because of the event's trauma, he rarely attended theater, stating that the large crowds reminded him of what happened that day.Īs a boy, Reilly developed a love for opera and desired to become an opera singer. As a result, he never sat in an audience again through the remainder of his life. His mother, foreshadowing his future as an entertainer, often would tell him to "save it for the stage." At age 13, he survived the infamous 1944 Hartford Circus Fire which killed 169 people in Connecticut. When young he would often make his own puppet theater to amuse himself. Reilly was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Charles Joseph Reilly, an Irish Catholic commercial artist, and Signe Elvera Nelson, a Swedish Lutheran.
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