Pat Halloran, savior of the Orpheum, has died: 'His legacy is profound'

Pat Halloran, the visionary organizer, fundraiser and arts advocate who headed the campaign to resurrect and restore the Orpheum and remained head of the historic Downtown theater for 35 years, died Thursday at the age of 80.

A burly presence in a restored architectural gem noted for the delicacy of its gold leaf highlights and the elegance of its crystal chandeliers, Halloran's efforts transformed the former movie palace from a symbol of neglect into a beacon of hope and, finally, the cornerstone of a revived and vital Downtown.

"There would be no Orpheum without Pat Halloran," said Brett Batterson, who succeeded Halloran as Orpheum president and CEO in 2016. "His legacy is profound. The decades of Broadway tours he brought to Memphis have shaped the memories of hundreds of thousands of theatregoers. Through his passion and steadfast preservation of the historic 95-year-old theater, Downtown Memphis and live performance continue to thrive."

One of Halloran's later achievements was to lead the development and construction of the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education, which opened in 2015 as a modernist complement to its historic next-door neighbor. Built directly to the south of the Orpheum in the 200 block of Main Street, the Centre contains classrooms, meeting rooms and a theater. Batterson called the Halloran Centre "a haven for transformational arts education" through which Pat Halloran "continues to shape future generations of empathic, thoughtful community members."

“I didn’t see this as being my end — my life’s work,” Halloran told The Commercial Appeal in 2014, as he prepared to retire from the Orpheum. “But as it turned out, I fell in love with what was going on here.”

Built at Main and Beale on a corner formerly occupied by the city's Grand Opera house, which was destroyed in a fire, the million-dollar Orpheum opened in 1928, with vaudeville performances and “photoplay” screenings.

In 1940, the theater was renamed The Malco, and served as the flagship theater of the Malco Theatres chain. By the 1970s, however, as Downtown deteriorated in the wake of suburban expansion and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the city's most impressive "movie palace" had essentially become an opulent "grindhouse," devoted to R-rated exploitation films. It closed in 1975.

The theater's resurrection more or less began in 1980, when Halloran — then a former City Council member, failed mayoral candidate and executive with Memphis-based Pi Kappa Alpha, a fraternity with 150,000 members in 40 states — was hired by the nonprofit Memphis Development Foundation to lead the effort to raise the $5.2 million needed to restore the theater.

A Nebraska native with an entertainment heritage (his father had been a regional vice president for Walt Disney Pictures), Halloran had come to Memphis in 1969, lured here from Miami by the Pi Kappa Alpha job. “To be honest, I thought, you know, I’m not ever going to be anything big in Miami, that city was rolling," Halloran told The Commercial Appeal. "I saw Memphis as just the opposite. I saw Memphis as a city that had its arms wide open.”

Remembering his first impression of the Orpheum in a column in Downtowner magazine, Halloran wrote: "I mean, this place was in horrible condition."

The restoration, he said, "meant gutting the building; taking the salvageable components such as seats and chandeliers to be cleaned or repaired; replacing what couldn't be salvaged; removing all the grit and grime; and then building it back up."

The job took about four years: The Orpheum reopened in 1984.

Through the years that followed, Halloran became synonymous with the theater, organizing the movie revivals, Broadway tours, concerts and other events that remain the Orpheum's focus. A gregarious figure with a theatrical streak of his own, he kept the theater at the forefront of the Downtown revival, as the resurrection of Beale Street, the construction of FedExForum, the remodeling of Tom Lee Park and other projects followed.

Halloran chronicles the historic theater's journey in his book, "Orpheum: Where Broadway Meets Beale." But he also was especially proud of his work with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Mid-South, which he founded in 1972. He was a past chair of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau and a past board member of the Memphis in May International Festival and the Memphis & Shelby County Music Foundation. He also was on the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine Advisory Board.

In 2011, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam awarded Halloran the “Governor’s Arts Leadership Award," while the visitors bureau gave him its “Legends Award” for 2012. Also in 2012, the Public Relations Society of America named him “Communicator of the Year.”

He received three Tony Awards for his part as a producer in the Broadway productions "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (2002), "Spamalot" (2005) and "Memphis" (2010).

Halloran leaves his wife, Anne Halloran; four children; and six grandchildren. Information on other survivors and funeral arrangements was not available Thursday night.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Pat Halloran, savior of the Orpheum in Memphis, has died