John KampfeHome, In the News, New Jersey Profiles

Bayonne born and bred Frank Langella won the fourth Tony Award of his illustrious Broadway career Sunday night for his portrayal of “Andre” in The Father.

It was the second time Langella won a Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. He also won in that category in 2007 for Frost/Nixon. Langella also has won twice as Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his turns in Fortune’s Fool (2002) and Seascape (1975). He also has won six Drama Desk Awards and four Outer Critics Circle Awards.

Langella was born in Bayonne in 1938. His father, also named Frank, was president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended local schools and told The NewYork Times in a 2012 interview that his interest in acting began in sixth grade when was cast as an elf in a school play.

He told CBS News in 2009 that he was the middle child of the family who competed for his parents’ attention. Acting shone a spotlight on him both figuratively and literally.

“I was emotionally very fragile,” he said in the CBS interview. “Extremely. And easy to cry, easy to be hurt. Easy to feel unloved and unwanted.”

Langella is no stranger to films and television with nearly 100 acting credits. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his first movie appearance in 1970 for playing “George Prager” in Diary of a Mad Housewife. He also was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the 2008 film version of Frost/Nixon. Langella perhaps achieved his greatest recognition in the title role in 1979’s Dracula, which he reprised from Broadway and for which he was nominated for a Tony in 1978. He currently can be seen as “Sen. Richard Russell” in the HBO film All the Way.