William “Bill” Pullinsi, the celebrated director and producer widely regarded as the “godfather of dinner theater,” died at age 86 on Sunday, May 17, at his home in Dyer with his family at his side.
He was a good friend and a frequent name mentioned in my columns, and as mutual friend Noreen Heron described him, “A towering figure in American musical theater.”
It was Pullinsi who pioneered the concept of dinner theater in the late 1950s and early 1960s and went on to direct or produce more than 400 theatrical productions during a remarkable career spanning over five decades. His work earned widespread acclaim, including 18 Joseph Jefferson Awards and numerous other honors recognizing his extraordinary contributions to the performing arts.
He was the founder and artistic director of the legendary Candlelight Dinner Playhouse and Forum Theatre in Summit, Illinois, which operated from 1961 through 1997 and became one of the most influential theatrical institutions in the Midwest. The theaters launched and nurtured the careers of thousands of actors, directors, designers and technicians, including such notable talents as Mandy Patinkin, Shelley Long, Mark Jacoby and Frank Galati. Jim Jacobs, while acting in a production at Candlelight, wrote the musical “Grease” in the theater’s green room.
(Bill would tell me the earliest versions of the “Grease” script “were filthy” because of the language included, which Jacobs defended as being “true to how he and other teens talked in the 1950s. “ But it was Bill who urged, “If you don’t soften it (the language), no one will ever see this new work.”)
Pullinsi first opened Candlelight Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 1959 while still a college student, alongside his lifelong producing partner Tony D’Angelo, whom he had met while both college students at The Catholic University of America. He brought the concept to the Chicago area in 1961, building on land his grandfather owned in Summit, helping transform dinner theater into a nationally popular entertainment format. His innovative model, combining high-quality professional productions with fine dining in an intimate, in-the-round setting, introduced live theater to hundreds of thousands of audience members who might not otherwise have attended theatrical performances. Candlelight’s success inspired countless dinner theaters throughout the United States.
Born and raised in Summit, Illinois, Pullinsi attended St. Joseph School and Benet Academy before studying at The Catholic University of America, where he earned his bachelor of fine arts degree. He later pursued graduate studies at the Goodman School of Drama and received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Lewis University.
I really began to know Bill better during his 10 years when Pullinsi served as artistic director of Theatre at the Center in Munster until 2016, where he directed numerous award-winning musicals and comedies and helped elevate our productions and cast a wider net for talent. By spring 2016, Bill was still directing big, splashy musicals at Theatre at the Center, including the Chicagoland premiere of “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”
Bill’s final directing stage moment came during the pandemic years in January 2022, when he secured special permission from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) in New York to direct and rehearse two non-union Valentine’s Day weekend performances of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” which starred actress/comedienne Jeannie Rapstad of Hammond and me in the ballroom at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster.
Bill often reminded that plays “weren’t his favorite thing to direct,” and it was musicals that remained his passion.
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Earlier this year, in January, Bill declined to direct two performances of the Midwest premiere of the comedy play “The Swingset,” written by Munster scribe Kristyn Estes. He admitted to failing health and said he was getting regular treatments for a condition he called “tired blood,” which could result in weakness and dizziness some days.
However, he did spend a few days at our theater helping me with guidance on how I should direct the play and offering very helpful advice and sketches on how to create the elaborate living room set for a Florida retirement community townhouse. He also attended the Valentine’s Day performance to applaud with well wishes for Estes, who also starred in the play, and me.
Last summer, he spent a great deal of time at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts with our summer interns, guiding and instructing them with industry lessons in exchange for the students helping him compile more than 100 hours of recorded memoirs about his career in theater and live performances. A preview of his memoir and “lessons in show biz” were presented at his alma mater, the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, on Nov. 14, 2025, presented as “This is Your Life: 60 Years and 400 Shows by William Pullinsi BFA, Directing Class of 1965.”
Among Pullinsi’s most celebrated productions were his world premiere production based on Mike Royko’s book on Mayor Richard J. Daley, “Boss,” which caused quite a political stir at his Forum Theatre as its inaugural production in 1973. The theater is best known for the four-and-a-half-year run of “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” by John Powers. His productions of “Phantom” and “Singin’ in the Rain” also set box office records at both Candlelight and the Westchester Broadway Theatre in New York.
In October 2018, I was part of the packed audience at the 50th anniversary Jeff Awards at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace.
The first man to emerge from behind the red curtain to welcome and greet audiences from the podium was Bill Pullinsi, explaining he was in attendance at the first awards show and is credited with supporting the early idea for the creation of a Chicago-specific award for the theater equivalent of New York City’s Tony Awards. Pullinsi credited the late newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times Irv Kupcinet and his wife Essee for helping catapult the Jeff Awards with promotion and star recognition during the 1970s.
“For a time, Kup’s wife Essee served as a member on the Jeff Committee, and she had access to the big stars of the day because of both her husband’s column and because she was also the producer of Kup’s Chicago-based TV talk show,” Pullinsi said.
“She always knew who was in town and which stars to convince to attend the awards night as presenters for the various categories. It was also the connections of Kup and his wife to get the annual awards ceremony broadcast on TV for a number of years in the 1970s, which included luminaries in attendance like Truman Capote, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Rita Moreno, Charles Nelson Reilly, Shelley Long and Chuck Connors.”
As for the secret of Pullinsi’s stage success, he believes audiences always crave talent but “also expect a fair price for an evening out to enjoy great entertainment.”
“When we started Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in 1961, you could get a full dinner, including cocktail and dessert along with the show for about $6,” Pullinsi said.
“We continued with great prices and quality performances right up until we closed in 1997.”
Besides directing Hollywood names like actor Dana Andrews and Betsy von Furstenberg on stage in the 1960s, Bill recalled to me his opportunity to direct movie star Dorothy Lamour in “Follies” in 1990.
“Dorothy died just a few years later in 1996 at age 81, and she had to sing this big number ‘I’m Just a Broadway Baby,’ and she wasn’t moving very fast in those later days to make it the exciting number it was supposed to be as a show-stopper,” Bill said.
Bill is survived by his son, Jamie Pullinsi, and his former wife, Ami Silvestre. Funeral services are pending.
Lamour, famed for her tropical off-the-shoulder sarongs and “On the Road” films co-starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, lived on a menu of salads, especially fond of including cubed melon to satisfy her sweet tooth.
Lamour’s easy cantaloupe salad is delicious, light summer lunch fare to welcome Memorial Day, the official start of summer 2026.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a weekly radio host at WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected] or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Dorothy Lamour’s Cantaloupe Salad
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
1 cup diced cantaloupe
1/2 cup diced fresh peaches
1/2 cup diced apples
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup orange juice
1 small shallot minced
1 teaspoon salt
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Dash pepper
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Directions
Mix the cantaloupe, peaches, apples, celery and pecans in a bowl. Set aside.
To make dressing, whisk together the orange juice, shallots, salt, pepper and oil. Pour over the cantaloupe mixture and soak 30 minutes, and then drain before dressing with the mayonnaise.