The director and actor Andre Gregory was born on May 11, 1934, to a family he describes as fugitives from Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. Gregory was born in a hotel in Paris, his mother reportedly having just played cards with the Turkish ambassador. His childhood was spent in Hollywood amongst the stars of the 1940s. Gregory attended Harvard and then studied acting, but was unable to find his feet in that profession. Theatrical success finally came to Gregory as a director in the avant-garde theater in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York. By the late 1960s he had established himself as a prominent director in New York experimental theater, collaborating with such luminaries as the legendary Polish director Jerzy Grotowski. Probably the most remarkable achievement in this early summit of Gregory's career came in 1970 when his theater group, The Manhattan Project, staged "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in New York for a year, which then went on to tour the world to acclaim, and earned him OBIE and Drama Desk Awards for his directing.
