American actor and director Joel Grey was BOTD in 1932. Born Joel Katz in Cleveland, Ohio to an acting family, he began performing in theatre as a child. After attending high school in Los Angeles, he moved to New York to pursue a showbiz career, performing at the Copacabana nightclub, and appearing in Broadway musicals Stop the World – I Want to Get Off and Half a Sixpence. His career went nuclear in 1966 when he joined the original Broadway production of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret, based on John van Druten‘s play I Am a Camera (itself based on Christopher Isherwood‘s Berlin novels). He dazzled audiences as the impish omnisexual Master of Ceremonies of the Kit-Kat Club, winning him a Tony Award. He reprised his role in Bob Fosse’s 1972 film of John Kander and Fred Ebb‘s musical Cabaret, co-starring with Liza Minnelli. A critical and commercial juggernaut, the film dominated the 1973 awards season, winning Grey an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award. He remained active in film, theatre and television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, and starred in the 1985 Off-Broadway production of Larry Kramer‘s play The Normal Heart. He had a career renaissance in the 1990s, co-starring in the Broadway revival of the musical Chicago and had a recurring role in cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2003, he originated the role of the Wizard of Oz in the Broadway premiere of the musical Wicked. He also had success as a director, earning a Tony nomination for the 2011 Broadway production of The Normal Heart and a 2018 Yiddish-language version of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. In 2023, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award for his contribution to theatre. Grey married Jo Wilder in 1958, having two children together, including the actress Jennifer Grey. After divorcing in 1982, he lived discreetly as a gay man, finally coming out publicly in 2015. His memoir Master of Ceremonies was published in 2016.