Peter Foy Passes Away At Age 79

Peter Foy, the founder of Flying By Foy, passed away on Friday, February 18, 2005, at the age of 79. Born in England, Foy came to the United States from London in 1950 to stage the flying for a Broadway production of Peter Pan, starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff. Foy's services and the flying equipment were provided by Kirby's Flying Ballets, a British company hired by the show's producers after they discovered that virtually no theatrical flying had been performed in the United States for more than two decades.

Foy returned to fly Mary Martin's Peter Pan when the musical version premiered in 1954. For this show, he created a new system known as the Inter-Related Pendulum. Martin's soaring aerial choreography thrilled audiences and marked the beginning of a new era in stage flying, and Foy's subsequent technical innovations soon established Flying By Foy as the standard of the industry.

Over the past half-century, he has revolutionized methods and techniques used in stage flying that had remained virtually unchanged for 2,000 years. The Health and Safety Codes Commission of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology the 1990 International Entertainment Safety Award to Foy for his singular, personal and creative contributions to safeguarding human life during a period of 50 years in the entertainment industry and elevating the task of flying people.

He was even the subject of a Daily Double question on Jeopardy: Peter Foy revolutionized stage flying with the "inter-related pendulum" he designed for this 1954 musical. The answer: What is Peter Pan? It is said that he watched the show religiously.

A service will be held on Sunday, February 27, 2005 at 12:00 noon:
Palm Mortuary
7600 S. Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89123
Phone: 702-464-8500

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:
The Actors’ Fund of America
729 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-221-7300

"In 1940, when I first flew in Where the Rainbow Ends, I only knew I wanted to be in theatre, with no idea what I wanted to be in theatre. The blissful solution was to try everything." - Peter Foy