Broadway Wig Designer Paul Huntley Retires, With DIANA Marking His Final Show

Broadway wig designer Paul Huntley is taking his final bow. Huntley has worked on hundreds of Broadway projects since coming to New York in 1972.

Now, at age 87, he has decided to retire, The New York Times reports. His final project will be Diana, which had begun previews before the pandemic forced its opening to be delayed.

Huntley talked with the Times about his career, and his decision to retire.

"There is no work to be had, so it was a wise thing to do. And I'm in my late 80s, so I think it was time," he said.

He talked about how he preferred designed wigs for straight plays rather than musicals, but a few favorite musicals of his were Cats and Evita.

"It was Patti LuPone, who I work with a lot, who always requested me," he notes.

Huntley also went on to talk about his final project, Diana.

"She in fact has four wigs - when she started out, as a pudding face, she had a mousy look at the beginning and then gradually it got more flamboyant and windswept and windblown," he said. "And the color changed, of course, all the time. I was very fond of her and this was a tribute. I quite like the musical."

Now, Huntley is bedridden after a fall, and has sold his home in New York to return to London. He says he will return for the opening of Diana.

Read the full interview on The New York Times.

London-born Paul Huntley has worked hundreds of Broadway shows, most memorably the original productions of Amadeus, Cats, Evita, Sweeney Todd, The Producers and Hairspray. A recipient of the Drama Desk and Tony awards, he has also worked with the some of the most legendary leading ladies of the cinema, ranging from Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh to Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway.

Huntley's first Broadway show was Uncle Vanya in 1973. Some of his other credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Tartuffe, Hello, Dolly!, The Elephant Man, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, You Can't Take It With You, The Glass Menagerie, Singin' In The Rain, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Blithe Spirit, Anything Goes, Waiting For Godot, Company, Once Upon a Mattress, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, The Wild Party, The Music Man, Seussical, Follies, Mamma Mia!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Pajama Game, Sweet Charity, Gypsy, Catch Me If You Can, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, A Bronx Tale, and many more.