Broadway and film actor Tony Roberts dead at 85…
Tony Roberts, a versatile, Tony Award-nominated theater performer at home in each performs and musicals and who appeared in a number of Woody Allen films — typically as Allen’s best good friend — has died.
He was 85.
Roberts’ death was introduced to The New York Times by his daughter, Nicole Burley.
Actor Tony Roberts died at 85. Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP
Roberts had a genial stage persona good for musical comedy and he originated roles in such various Broadway musicals as “How Now, Dow Jones” (1967); “Sugar” (1972), an adaptation of the film “Some Like It Hot,” and “Victor/Victoria” (1995), through which he co-starred with Julie Andrews when she returned to Broadway within the stage model of her widespread film.
He additionally was within the campy, roller-disco “Xanadu” in 2007 and “The Royal Family” in 2009.
“I’ve never been particularly lucky at card games. I’ve never hit a jackpot. But I have been extremely lucky in life,” he write in his memoir, “Do You Know Me?” “Unlike many of my pals, who didn’t know what they wanted to become when they grew up, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I got to high school.”
Roberts additionally appeared on Broadway within the 1966 Woody Allen comedy “Don’t Drink the Water,” repeating his position within the film model, and in Allen’s “Play It Again, Sam” (1969), for which he additionally made the film.
Other Allen movies through which Roberts appeared have been “Annie Hall” (1977), “Stardust Memories” (1980), “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy” (1982), “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986) and “Radio Days” (1987).
Roberts appeared in a sequence of Woody Allen’s movies like “Annie Hall” and “Radio Days.”
AP
Broadway composer Jule Styne, Tony Roberts, Elaine Joyce, Cyril Ritchard and Robert Morse labored collectively on the musical “Sugar” back in 1971. AP
“Roberts’ confident onscreen presence — not to mention his tall frame, broad shoulders and brown curly mane — was the perfect foil for Allen’s various neurotic characters, making them more funny and enjoyable to watch,” The Jewish Daily Forward wrote in 2016.
In Eric Lax’s guide “Woody Allen: A Biography,” Roberts recalled a sophisticated scene in “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy” that Allen shot over and over — even after the film had been edited — to get his supposed impact.
“When you go back to see (Allen’s work) two, three, four times, you begin to see the amazing amount of art in it, that nothing is accidental,” Roberts mentioned.
Among his different films have been “Serpico” (1973) and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1974).
He was nominated twice for a Tony Award — for “How Now, Dow Jones” and “Play It Again, Sam,” when he was billed as Anthony Roberts.
Roberts obtained Tony Award nominations for the Broadway exhibits “How Now, Dow Jones” and “Play It Again, Sam. AP
One of Roberts’ largest Broadway successes was Charles Busch’s hit comedy “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” (2000), through which he performed the title character’s husband.
Roberts, who made his Broadway debut in 1962 within the short-lived “Something About a Soldier,” additionally was a alternative in some of its longest-running hits together with “Barefoot in the Park,” “Promises, “Promises,” “They’re Playing Our Song,” “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” “The Sisters Rosensweig” and the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of “Cabaret.”
“I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway. In that era there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction,” he advised Broadway World in 2015.
In London, he starred with Betty Buckley within the West End manufacturing of “Promises, Promises,” enjoying the Jack Lemmon position on this stage model of “The Apartment.”
Roberts’ tv credit embody the short-lived sequence “The Four Seasons” (1984) and “The Lucie Arnaz Show” (1985) in addition to visitor spots on such well-known exhibits as “Murder, She Wrote” and “Law & Order.”
Roberts was born in New York on Oct. 22, 1939, the son of radio and tv introduced Ken Roberts.
“I was raised in the middle of a lot of actor talk,” he advised the AP in 1985. “My cousin was Everett Sloane, who was a very fine actor. My father’s friends were mostly actors. I’m sure that in some way I needed to prove myself in their eyes.”
He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois.
His marriage to Jennifer Lyons led to divorce. He is survived by his daughter, the actor Nicole Burley.
He first met Allen backstage when he was starring in “Barefoot in the Park,” having changed Robert Redford.
Roberts had unsuccessfully auditioned 4 instances for Allen’s first Broadway play, “Don’t Drink the Water.” Seeing Roberts carry out in “Barefoot in the Park” satisfied Allen that Roberts was price casting.
According to his memoir, Allen advised him, “You were great. How come you’re such a lousy auditioner?”
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