Early life and education
Quintero was born in Panama City, Panama, the fourth of 4 children, to Carlos Quintero Rivera and Consuelo Palmerola. As a boy he was an acolyte, though he described his childhood in other ways as a disaster—the result of a domineering and overbearing father. He was educated in the United States at Los Angeles City College, the University of Southern California, and the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University). where he decided on a career in theatre. After notification of his intention, his father, who wanted him to be a physician, declared him dead, leading to José's seven-year estrangement from his family.
Career
Quintero co-founded the Circle in the Square Theatre in Greenwich Village with Theodore Mann in 1951; this is regarded as the birth of Off-Broadway theatre. He became one of the most celebrated Broadway and Off-Broadway directors and producers and worked with some of the greatest names in American theatre. His own name is inextricably linked to that of the American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Quintero's interest contributed to the rediscovery of O'Neill. Quintero staged several of his works, including The Iceman Cometh in 1956, which launched the career of Jason Robards. Later that year, Quintero's production of the New York premiere of Long Day's Journey into Night established his reputation as the quintessential director of O'Neill's dramas and won Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor (Fredric March). In 1963, he directed Strange Interlude, with a cast which included Geraldine Page, Jane Fonda, Franchot Tone, Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle and Betty Field. In 1967, he directed Ingrid Bergman in More Stately Mansions in Los Angeles and New York. In 1968, Quintero travelled to Mexico to direct the Mexican star Dolores del Río in The Lady of the Camellias but was dismissed by the actress because of his problem with alcohol. His production of A Moon for the Misbegotten, at the Academy Playhouse, Lake Forest, Illinois in 1973, won the Tony award for Best Direction in 1974. In 1988, he directed the revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night with Jason Robards Jr and Colleen Dewhurst. In the course of his career, Quintero directed O'Neill plays nineteen times.
Quintero did not limit himself to the works of O'Neill. He directed over seventy productions by a great number of writers, including Truman Capote, Jean Cocteau, Thornton Wilder, Jean Genet and Brendan Behan. He also directed plays by Tennessee Williams, including the 1952 production of Summer and Smoke which made Geraldine Page a star and the short-lived 1968 production of The Seven Descents of Myrtle.
In 1961, he directed Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty in the film version of Williams's The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, which brought Lotte Lenya Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress. This was the only feature film directorial credit of Quintero's career, though he did have a handful of television directing credits.
In 1973, he also directed three one-act plays at the Academy Playhouse in Lake Forest, Illinois. Hello From Bertha, Lady of Larkspur Lotion and The Orchestra. He chose a cast he said belonged on Broadway. The brilliant cast included Jeanie Columbo, Ralph Williams, Betty Miller, Nancy Wickwire, Charlotte Jones and Janet Dowd. In 1990, he directed Liv Ullmann in Noël Coward's Private Lives at the National Theatre in Oslo. He also directed operas for the Metropolitan Opera and the Dallas Opera.
Quintero was a noted teacher and lectured on theatre and gave master classes in acting and directing at the University of Houston and Florida State University. In 1996, he directed two early O'Neill plays, The Long Voyage Home and Ile, at the Provincetown Repertory Theater in Massachusetts.
