Edward Padula, 85; Producer Won Tony for ‘Bye Bye Birdie’

Edward Padula, 85, a Broadway producer who won a Tony Award in 1961 for “Bye Bye Birdie,” died of a heart attack Nov. 1 at Southhampton Hospital near his home in Bridgehampton, N.Y.

The Newark, N.J.-born son of Italian immigrants studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Drama. He worked as a television writer-director-producer for NBC, but his love was the theater.

In the late 1950s, after working as a stage and production manager and occasionally directing, Padula acquired the rights to a musical about a young rock ‘n’ roll idol who is drafted into the military and comes to a small Ohio town to do one last show. “Bye Bye Birdie,” directed by Gower Champion and starring Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke, won six Tonys.

Padula’s other Broadway credits include the successful 1972 all-black musical revue “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope.”