He was born in New York City , and began work in the theatre as an assistant stage manager to legendary theatrical producer and director George Abbott . Along with Abbott, he co-produced ''The Pajama Game'', which won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical. His went on to direct his own productions in 1962 beginning with ''A Family Affair'' and hit a series of unsuccessful productions. He almost gave up the musical theater right before he hit success with ''Cabaret'' in 1966. 1970 marked the start of his greatest collaboration to composer/lyricist Steven Sondheim. They had previously worked on ''West Side Story'' and had now finally decided to embark on their own project. Their pairing led to a long string of collaborations including ''Company'', ''Follies'', ''Little Night Music'', ''Pacific Overtures'', and ''Sweeney Todd''. After the disappointing ''Merrily We Roll Along'', they did not work together again until '' Bounce ''.
Prince was also involved in directing operas. Some of these include ''Ashmedai'', ''Madame Butterfly'', and the revival of ''Candide''.
He currently holds the title as president over the ''National Institute for Music Theater'' (formally called ''The National Opera Institute'').
He directed two of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's successes: ''Evita'' and ''The Phantom of the Opera''.
Prince won his twentieth Tony Award in 1995 for Best Direction of the musical revival '' Show Boat '', making him the record holder for most Tony Awards won.
He married Judy Chaplin, daughter of Saul Chaplin . They are parents of director Daisy Prince .
In response to the question of how he goes about deciding what next to direct, Prince explained that he decides based on whatever quality he felt was lacking in the current Broadway shows, as well as whatever topic he felt was very important to him at any given time. He felt that he hadn't seen a romantic musical in over twenty-five years, and thus he directed ''Phantom''. From his growing frustration at the media and his inability to fully trust what he and the rest of the country were being told by the government, he created ''Evita''. Finally, after surpassing his thirty-second wedding anniversary and, following that, becoming a grandfather, Prince decided to direct ''Showboat''. He calls ''Showboat'' the quintessential family show.
- '' Tickets, Please! '' - 1950 - assistant stage manager
- '' Call Me Madam '' - 1950 - assistant stage manager
- '' Wonderful Town '' - 1953 - stage manager
- '' The Pajama Game '' - 1954 - co-producer - 1955 Tony Award - Best Musical
- '' Damn Yankees '' - 1955 - co-producer - 1956 Tony Award - Best Musical
- '' New Girl In Town '' - 1957 - co-producer
- '' West Side Story '' - 1957 - co-producer
- '' Fiorello! '' - 1959 - co-producer - 1960 Tony Award - Best Musical - Pulitzer Prize in Drama
- '' West Side Story '' - 1960 - co-producer
- '' Tenderloin '' - 1960 - co-producer
- '' A Call On Kuprin '' - 1961 - producer
- '' Take Her, She's Mine '' - 1961 - producer
- '' A Family Affair '' - 1962 - director
- '' A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum '' - 1962 - producer - 1963 Tony Award - Best Musical, 1963 Tony Award - Best Producer of a Musical
- '' She Loves Me '' - 1963 - producer, director
- '' Fiddler On The Roof '' - 1964 - producer - 1965 Tony Award - Best Musical, 1965 Tony Award - Best Producer of a Musical
- '' Poor Bitos '' - 1964 - producer
- '' Baker Street '' - 1964 - director
- '' Flora, The Red Menace '' - 1965 - producer
- '' It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman '' - 1966 - producer, director
- '' Cabaret '' - 1966 - producer, director - 1967 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical, 1967 Tony Award - Best Musical
- '' Zorba '' - 1968 - producer, director
- '' Company '' - 1970 - producer, director - 1971 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical, 1971 Tony Award - Best Musical
- '' Follies '' - 1971 - producer, director - 1972 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical
- '' The Great God Brown '' - 1972 - artistic director
- '' Don Juan '' - 1972 - artistic director
- '' A Little Night Music '' - 1973 - director, producer - 1973 Tony Award - Best Musical
- '''' - 1973 - performer
- '' The Visit '' - 1973 - director
- '' Chemin De Fer '' - 1973 - artistic director
- '' Hollywood Arms '' - 2002 - producer
- '' Holiday '' - 1973- artistic director
- '' Candide '' - 1974 - producer, director - 1974 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical, 1974 Tony Award - Special Award
- '' Love For Love '' - 1974 - director
- '' The Member Of The Wedding '' - 1975 - artistic director
- '' The Rules Of The Game '' - 1974 - artistic director
- '' Pacific Overtures '' - 1976 - producer, director
- '' Side By Side By Sondheim '' - 1977 - producer
- '' Some Of My Best Friends '' - 1977 - director
- '' On The Twentieth Century '' - 1978 - director
- '' Sweeney Todd '' - 1979 - director - 1979 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical
- '' Evita '' - 1979 - director - 1980 Tony Award - Best Direction of a Musical
- '' Merrily We Roll Along '' - 1981 - director
- '' A Doll's Life '' - 1982 - producer, director
- '' Play Memory '' - 1984 - director
- 1972 Tony Award - Special Award
- ''Contradictions'' - 1974 - autobiography
- ''Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre'' - 1989 (revised 2005) by Foster Hirsch although Prince provides extensive interviews and writes the foreward.
- "Harold Prince: From Pajama Game To Phantom of the Opera And Beyond" - By Carol Ilson
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