If it is true that the lives of its artists encompasses much of the history of the theatre, then biographical sources are an essential resource for that history. Obituaries often provide the only accessible biographical information on the ordinary people of the theatre. The unique feature of George Bryan's Stage Deaths is its perception of those ordinary, often obscure lives as essential, colorful complements to more celebrated ones.

This reference volume provides basic biographical facts, citations of obituaries and death notices in selected Anglo-American newspapers, and references to book-length biographies and autobiographies in English of theatrical artists who died between 1850 and 1990. Through thousands of entries and cross references, Stage Deaths details the lives and careers of actors, directors, musical directors, designers, producers, playwrights, composers, screenwriters, scenarists, theatre and company managers, and agents connected with stage, screen, radio, television, vaudeville, circus, menagerie, and carnival. A complete entry contains stage name(s), sobriquet, real name, parents; names, spouse's name(s), date and place of birth and death, citations of obituaries, and a list of autobiographies and biographies in English. A companion volume to the compiler's Stage Lives: A Bibliography and Index to Theatrical Biographies in English (Greenwood Press, 1985), this volume belongs in theatrical and general reference library collections.