Andre Gregory was born on May 11, 1934, to a family of fugitives from Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. He was born in a Paris hotel, where his mother reportedly played cards with the Turkish ambassador. Gregory's childhood was spent in Hollywood amidst the stars of the 1940s.
He attended Harvard and then studied acting, but struggled to find his footing in the profession. However, his career as a director began to take off in the avant-garde theater scene in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York. By the late 1960s, he had established himself as a prominent director in New York experimental theater, collaborating with renowned directors such as Jerzy Grotowski.
In 1970, Gregory's theater group, The Manhattan Project, staged "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in New York, which went on to tour the world and earned him OBIE and Drama Desk Awards. However, in the early 1970s, Gregory underwent an existential crisis that brought his career to a halt.
Five years later, he began to emerge from his crisis and shared his experiences with friend and writer Wallace Shawn, who was impressed by Gregory's articulate and humane way of relating his pain. Shawn suggested they stage their discussions as a movie, resulting in the critically acclaimed film "My Dinner with Andre" (1981),directed by Louis Malle.
The success of "My Dinner with Andre" marked the end of Gregory's hiatus, and he returned to directing plays in his signature slow and deliberate style. He eventually began to act in films, including "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988) and "The Mosquito Coast" (1986),as well as stage productions.
Gregory's work with an acting troupe on the play "Uncle Vanya" was brought to the screen in "Vanya on 42nd Street" (1994),directed by Malle. One of his earliest acting roles after "My Dinner with Andre" was in a production of "Alice in Wonderland" (1983) for PBS.
Throughout his life, Gregory has been a lifelong progressive, devoting his time to political causes. He was married to Mercedes (Chiquita) Gregory, a prominent New York filmmaker and theater producer, for many years, and later married filmmaker Cindy Kleine. Gregory and Kleine now reside on Cape Cod.
