LOS ANGELES -- David Craig, 75, creator and foremost instructor of a unique peforming technique for singing in the musical theatre, died here Aug. 29 after a long battle with lung cancer.
Craig began teaching in 1948 and taught most recently at UCLA.
In 1950, he met one of his first prominent students, comedienne Nancy Walker, who had starred in such musicals as Best Foot Forward and On the Town. They were married for 41 years until her death in 1992.
In 1952 Craig was arranger and music coordinator for the first Broadway revival of Ira Gershwin and George S. Kaufman's Of Thee I Sing. His other Broadway credits include Phoenix '55 and Copper and Brass.
In 1970, Craig moved to L.A. and opened his West Coast studio, where he taught, over a 25-year span, such students as Cyd Charisse, Lucille Ball, Michael Bennett, Thelma Ritter and Cicely Tyson, among others. -- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent
