It is with sadness ATPAM announces the death on July 31 of Gold Card Press Agent Robert Ullman in Bayshore, New York. Brother Ullman had recently celebrated his 97th birthday. He joined ATPAM in March of 1953 and was celebrated as a charter member of ATPAM’s Diamond Club in 2010 for having been a member of the union for over 50 years.
Brother Ullman was born in Washington Heights in NYC in 1922. His love affair with the theater began when, as a young boy, he saw Ethel Merman in Take A Chance. He was hooked.
Bob had a lengthy and illustrious career as a Press Agent both on and Off-Broadway. Among the Broadway shows he represented were A Chorus Line (from workshop to Off-Broadway to Broadway), That Championship Season, Cactus Flower, Half A Sixpence, A Touch of the Poet, Romanoff and Juliet, The Cold Wind and the Warm, Goldilocks, the all black revival of Waiting for Godot (1957), New Faces of 1956, The Threepenny Opera (1955 revival), Plain and Fancy, The Saint of Bleecker Street, King of Hearts, Room Service (1953 revival), Porgy and Bess (1953 revival) and Call Me Madam.
Among the stars Bob worked with, and with many of whom he became friends, were: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Tallulah Bankhead, Bert Lahr, Eartha Kitt, Peter Ustinov, Zero Mostel, Bobby Short and Leontyne Price.
For many years Bob was the resident Press Agent for the New York Shakespeare Festival and then later for Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway.
Bob was married in 2012 to his longtime companion Milton “Mike” Freeman, with whom he ran two successful Long Island antique shops after retirement from show biz. Mike passed away in 2015. Bob is survived by several nieces and nephews and cousins.
A memorial service is planned for the fall.
Contributions may be made in Bob’s name to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
He will be missed.