The New York Times-20080128-Michael Abbott- Producer- Is Dead at 81- -Obituary -Obit--

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Michael Abbott, Producer, Is Dead at 81; [Obituary (Obit)]

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Michael Abbott, a television, film and theater producer who was bringing a revival of Stalag 17 to Broadway 57 years after producing its premiere Off Broadway, died Thursday in Manhattan. He was 81.

The cause was complications of cancer, said his sister, Helene Fields, his only survivor.

Mr. Abbott was 24 in 1951 when he took a play written by two actors who had been prisoners of war, Edmund Trzcinski and Don Bevan, and put it on at the Lambs Club theater on West 44th Street. Stalag 17, a comedy-drama about American prisoners of war, was quickly transferred to Broadway by Jose Ferrer, who produced and directed it there. (Billy Wilder's movie version came in 1953.)

Mr. Abbott always felt somewhat dissatisfied with changes made for the 1951 Broadway production. Last year he began assembling a Broadway revival of Stalag 17, with Spike Lee scheduled to direct. Plans for that production are proceeding.

Mr. Abbott was born Abbott Gold in New York on June 1, 1926, the son of a Broadway ticket broker and a homemaker. He was interested in theater from an early age, and after studying commercial art at Pratt Institute he transferred to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to become an actor.

He spent a few years acting on television programs and in regional theaters, including the Bucks County Playhouse in suburban Philadelphia, and he picked up a Broadway credit. But at 23 he turned to producing, bringing a comedy called Late Love, starring Arlene Francis, to Broadway.

Mr. Abbott would later become an executive at Talent Associates-Paramount, producing a number of television shows, including adaptations of The Prince and the Pauper, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, A Tale of Two Cities and The Moon and Sixpence, and various early star-strewn specials, including Hedda Hopper's Hollywood.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Michael Abbott (PHOTOGRAPH BY KERRY BANN)