Born in San Francisco in 1939, actor and baritone Laurence Guittard is particularly well known for his work in musical theater. His earliest work on the Great White Way was in the Cervantes-inspired musical Man of La Mancha, in which he appeared as a replacement for both Dr. Carrasco and Don Quixote.
In 1973, Guittard formed a part of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Shubert Theatre, playing Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. The musical won several Tony Awards®, including those for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score; for his performance, Guittard earned a nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He can be heard singing “In Praise of Women” and, in a duet with Len Cariou, “It Would Have Been Wonderful” on the original Broadway cast recording. He reprised the role of Count Carl-Magnus in the 1977 movie of A Little Night Music, which also featured Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Rigg, and Len Cariou.
An all-star celebration of Sondheim – whose participants included Hermione Gingold, Angela Lansbury, Anthony Perkins, and many others – took place at the Shubert Theatre in 1973. Guittard was among the celebrants and sings on the recording made on that special occasion, Sondheim: A Musical Tribute.
A musical revue of the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Rodgers & Hart, played at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1975 and featured Guittard as one of the performers. In the Palace Theatre revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma!, Guittard starred as the cowboy Curly McLain, and he can be heard on the 1979 Broadway revival cast recording, which also stars Christine Andreas as Curly’s love interest, Laurey.
In the 1992 revival of Man of La Mancha at the Marquis Theatre, Guittard took over for Raúl Juliá as Don Quixote, a role he knew well from his earliest experiences on Broadway.
His work in off-Broadway and regional productions includes performances in Follies, A Little Night Music (West End, Royal National Theatre Production, 1995), The Sound of Music (New York City Opera, 1990), Annie Get Your Gun, She Loves Me, The Merry Widow, and Gone with the Wind. He has also appeared at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and the Old Globe in San Diego.
Television credits include Covenant (TV movie), Man Without a Country (TV movie),and Three’s Company; Guittard also played in the comedy-mystery Somebody Killed Her Husband, with Farrah Fawcett and Jeff Bridges.
