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Theatre writer ALLEN ZWERDLING, a founder of entertainment newspaper Back Stage, has died at the age of 86.
Zwerdling died on 12 January (09) at his home in Rosendale, New York of natural causes.
Founding the publication in 1960 with partner Ira Eaker, the weekly fast became a casting bible for performers.
The venture followed several years of Zwerdling’s work as an actor with the Players Guild of Manhattan in the late 1930s.
He later served in World War II with the Army Air Force, where he directed plays and worked as an editor for a military newspaper after being assigned to special forces.
A founding producer of the American Players Theater in Zurich, Switzerland, and director of the Kansas City Resident Theater, he began working for rival publication Show Business, in 1948, where he met Eaker.
Back Stage currently boasts a circulation of 32,000 copies weekly, and has sparked new ventures including Los Angeles-based newspaper Back Stage West and Backstage.com - now owned by Billboard Publications.
Zwerdling is survived by two daughters, Sherry Zwerdling and Jan Heyes, a son, Gary Zwerdling, and a grandson.

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