Producer Robert Calhoun dies at 77

Robert Calhoun, best known to soap fans for his runs as Executive Producer at AS THE WORLD TURNS and GUIDING LIGHT has passed away. He died of lung cancer in New York on May 24th at age 77. Calhoun won a 1987 Daytime Emmy Award for producing AS THE WORLD TURNS and was nominated for five more Emmys as a producer and two as a director. Calhoun's work over the years ranged from helping to launch the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles to translating Italian film scripts into English while working in Italy in the early 1970s. Calhoun was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He graduated from the U. of Maryland, after serving three years in the U.S. Navy. His early work in the theater included a stint as production supervisor for Eva Le Gallienne's National Repertory Theater, during productions of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" and Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull," where he met his lifelong partner, the actor Farley Granger, in 1963. Calhoun subsequently moved to Southern California, where he worked on early productions at the Mark Taper Forum. In 1970, Calhoun moved to Italy with Granger, and spent several years living in Rome. He went back in the mid-1970s to Southern California and the Mark Taper, where he directed plays for the New Theater for Now program. After a few years, he returned to New York to work in daytime television. Calhoun was co-author of Granger's memoir, "Include Me Out," which was published in 2007. He is survived by Granger, two brothers and a sister. 1 This photo shows Farley Granger, left, and companion Robert Calhoun and dogs Luke and Molly in Rome in 1972.