Edward Rissien

Edward Louis Rissien (October 20, 1924 – April 8, 2023) was an American production company executive and producer. Rissien was born in Des Moines, Iowa on October 20, 1924. His parents were Russian Ukrainian immigrants who had settled there. In the 1940s, he attended Grinnell College in Iowa and then served in the Army Air Force. After the war he went to Stanford graduating in 1949 in Political Science. Rissien's interest in theater was influenced by his sister Dorothy, whose son Michael Zinberg is now a well-known television director, and by Cloris Leachman, a high school classmate of his at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. When the war was over and Rissien returned to Des Moines, he quickly realized he wanted to be closer to theater and in a telephone conversation with Cloris, she suggested that he come to New York. At the time, she had just signed a contract with Rodgers and Hammerstein. Shortly thereafter, he left for New York.