David Wheeler, legendary Boston theater director, dies at 86

By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff

David Wheeler, a towering figure in the history of Boston theater, died yesterday at the age of 86.

His son, Lewis D. Wheeler, said last night that Wheeler died of a combination of respiratory failure and heart failure.

As a founder and artistic director of the Theatre Company of Boston from 1963 to 1975, Wheeler brought a spirit of adventure to a then-staid local theater scene. He worked with such young actors as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner, Jon Voight, and Robert Duvall early in their careers, before they went on to stardom. “I had five Academy Award winners almost right in a row,’’ he recalled in an interview with the Globe last April.

At Harvard University, Wheeler’s students included Matt Damon, who took his Introduction to Theater Arts class, as well as a directing class.

“He really had an eye for talent, a great eye for casting for depth, of who that person was,’’ said Lewis Wheeler, an actor and director. “A lot of people at auditions just look at your resume. My dad put the resume away and engaged with the person.’’

Wheeler was a resident director at the American Repertory Theater in the 1980s and 1990s. Just last spring, he directed Suzan-Lori Parks’s “The Book of Grace’’ at Company One, with Lewis serving as assistant director. “My dad’s real expertise as a director was psychological,’’ said Lewis Wheeler. “He could get into people’s minds and draw them out. He always said to me that directing is the art of the possible: What else is possible? The psychological fine-tuning is what he loved.’’

“He was just really humble, and very energetic and passionate,’’ he added. “He was very proud of the actors; they were like his extended family.’’

In addition to his son, Wheeler is survived by his wife, Bronia Wheeler.

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.