Lewis J. Hardee, Jr.
Writer - Composer - Educator

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Biography

Prof. Emeritus Lewis Hardee served as Music Director of Wagner College Theatre, Staten  Island, New York, retiring as Head of Theater. This followed a career in musical theatre, writing, composing and conducting. He has said, “My career was in New York, but my heart is in Southport, where it has always been, and will remain.”
            A native of Southport, N.C., he was graduated from Southport High School class of 1954, then attended U.N.C. Chapel Hill where he earned a B.A. in Radio, TV Motion Pictures; an M.A. in Music in Musicology, then did post graduate studies in composition at Columbia University. During 1960-1962 he served with the U.S. Army as a Specialist with the Counter Intelligence Corps.
            Lewis Hardee is composer and/or author of musicals, including Revolution!, the outdoor musical drama produced in Southport in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial Celebration. Two musicals, The Little Prince and The Prince and the Pauper, have toured the United States. His historical writings include Three Southern Families, a History of Connecting Hardee, Jones and Davis Families of Coastal North Carolina, published 1995 by the Southport Historical Society; and The Lambs Theatre Club, 2006, by McFarland & Company.
            A long-time member of The Lambs, Inc., the oldest theatrical club in the United States, he currently serves as its Historian, and is Vice President of The Lambs Foundation, Inc. He is a subject of record in Marquis Who’s Who in Education, and Who’s Who in America.
            He now devotes his time to writing.