Al Hirschfeld, 99, Dies; He Drew Broadway

By RICHARD F. SHEPARD with MEL GUSSOW

l Hirschfeld, whose inimitable caricatures captured the vivid personalities of theater people and their performances for more than 75 years, died at his home in Manhattan yesterday. He was 99.

To be the subject of a Hirschfeld drawing endowed one with a special cachet. To find the word ''Nina,'' the name of his daughter, hidden several times in the lines of his caricatures, was a weekend pastime for millions of readers. Next to his signature he put the number of ''Ninas'' in his drawings, creating a sort of pleasurable Sunday game for his admirers.

In a career that spanned the 20th century, he probably saw more shows than anyone else. He drew a vast and imaginative portrait of the performing artists of his lifetime, particularly in the theater. He was a familiar figure at first nights and at rehearsals, where he had perfected the technique of making a sketch in the dark, using a system of shorthand notations that contributed to the finished product.

His art was compared by critics to that of Daumier and Toulouse-Lautrec but, ultimately, it was Hirschfeld, cannily perceptive, wittily amusing and benignly pointed.

Hirschfeld's art was distinguished by his deep feeling for people. He continued to work and to drive his own car virtually until his death. On Saturday, as usual, he was at work in his studio, drawing the Marx brothers, all of whom were his friends, his wife, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, said.

In 1996 a film documentary of the artist's life by Susan W. Dryfoos, ''The Line King,'' rich in tributes from those he had drawn and from those he worked with, was nominated for an Academy Award. Hirschfeld himself received a special Tony Award “The Antionette Perry” award, a sign that the theater world welcomed him not only as an observer, but as one of its own.

Hirschfeld was best known for the caricatures that appeared in the drama pages of The New York Times. But his work also appeared in books and other publications and is in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan and the St. Louis Art Museum, in his hometown. His other artistic work often reflected his travels. Rather than be called a caricature artist, he preferred the term “characterist” to best describe his form of drawing.

''The art of caricature, or rather the special branch of it that interests me, is not necessarily one of malice,'' the artist wrote in an introduction to his 1970 book, ''The World of Hirschfeld.''

''It is never my aim to destroy the play or the actor by ridicule,'' he continued. ''The passion of personal conviction belongs to the playwright; the physical interpretation of the character belongs to the actor; the delineation in line belongs to me. My contribution is to take the character -- created by the playwright and acted out by the actor -- and reinvent it for the reader.''

Hirschfeld's reinventions caught the spirit of their subjects with lines that, studied individually, might seem irrelevant but, taken together, added up to characteristic eyes, hairdos and motions -- all in such a way as to distill the character of his subject.

Hirschfeld cut a striking figure, a lively, white-haired, white-bearded man about 5 feet 8 inches tall, who saw himself this way: ''A couple of huge eyes and huge mattress of hair. Large eyes with superimposed eyebrows. No forehead. The forehead that you see is just the hair disappearing.''

His own finished products were completed mostly on the drawing board next to the barber's chair he used while working in the Manhattan brownstone in the East 90's that he shared with his wife, the actress Dolly Haas (who died in 1994), and later with Louise Kerz Hirschfeld. He usually worked seven days a week, from about 10 in the morning until 5 at night.

Dolly Haas Hirschfeld was his wife, adviser and social director for 52 years. An earlier marriage to Florence Ruth Hobby ended in divorce. In 1996 he married Louise Kerz, a research historian in the arts and a longtime friend, who survives him. He is also survived by his daughter, Nina Hirschfeld West of Austin, Tex.; a grandson, Matthew, and a granddaughter, Margaret, both of Austin; and two stepsons, Jonathan Kerz of Larchmont, N.Y., and Antony Kerz of Rocky Hill, Conn.

His wife said he was elated after receiving two messages on Friday, a letter from the American Academy of Arts and Letters saying that he had been elected to the academy, and a phone call from Washington saying that he would be one of the recipients of the National Medal of Arts, to be presented by President Bush at the White House this year. When he was informed of the honors, he said, ''If you live long enough, everything happens.''

Hirschfeld was the most celebrated artist in the theater and on June 21, when he would have been 100 years old, he will have the ultimate Broadway accolade. The Martin Beck Theater on West 45th Street will be renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

Two days later a benefit for the Actors' Fund that would have celebrated his centenary will be held as scheduled at the Al Hirschfeld Theater on Broadway.