Frank Lazarus

Frank Lazarus (4 May 1939 – 14 September 2025) was a British and South African actor, composer and lyricist. He was best known as the composer of the musical A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1980. Lazarus also performed in the show, playing Carlo in both the 1979 London production and the subsequent Broadway run.

Early life Lazarus was born and brought up in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town. His father, Louis, was a wine and brandy merchant and his mother, Doffie (nee Hart) was a teacher and an amateur actress. He studied law at the University of Cape Town and worked for a short time in an attorney's office. His family were Jewish and as a child he sang in the choir of the Muizenberg Shul.

He emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1970 where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life.

He also appeared in film and television productions and his credits include the feature film Superman (1978), in which he played an Air Force One pilot, and the television serial Pennies from Heaven (1978). He also appeared in two episodes of EastEnders, among other roles.

A Day in Hollywood/ A Night in the Ukraine In 1978, when playing piano and portraying Erik Satie at the Greenwood theatre, Lazarus was spotted by the writer and lyricist Dick Vosburgh.

During the run of the show, the producers were sued by the heirs of the Marx brothers who claimed that their "right of publicity" had been infringed. Lazarus (and Vosburgh) were named as third party defendants in the case. Lazarus later developed a one-man piece based on his experiences of the show, The Hollywood/Ukraine Backers Audition.

Later work

In 1992 Lazarus played Maxie Schwartz in June Moon, at the Vaudeville on the Strand. He starred as Horace Vandergelder opposite Prunella Scales’s Mrs Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker at the Chichester festival in 1993. His National Theatre work included the Gestapo officer in Jacobowsky and the Colonel in 1986.

Death Lazarus died in London on 14 September 2025, at the age of 86.