Roger Rees ha muerto: El actor que ganó la fama como ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ fallece a los 71 años
Roger Rees, who won a Tony Award for his performance as the title character in
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, died Friday in New York. The Welsh-born actor was 71 and had worked almost until the end of his life until declining health forced him to withdraw from his final role in John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical
The Visit earlier this year. Cause of death was not reported.
Rees gained fame 35 years ago for his performance in David Edgar’s epic adaptation of the 1839 novel by Charles Dickens. Running time for the Royal Shakespeare Company version on London’s West End was something like 10 hours including intermissions. Actual running time was about 8 1/2 hours. Airing in four episodes, an RSC recording of the stage production became Channel 4’s first drama.
The play moved to Broadway in 1981, winning multiple Tonys including Best Play and Best Director for Trevor Nunn in addition to the acting nod for Rees. A production also also aired on U.S. TV in 1983, winning an Emmy for Best Limited Series and earning Rees his only Emmy nomination.
Rees later appeared in a recurring role on NBC’s
Cheers as a snooty British millionaire by the name of Robin Colcord — the love interest Kirstie Alley’s Rebecca Howe. He starred in the British sitcom
Singles from 1988 to 1991. He also appeared in TV’s
The West Wing as UK ambassador to the U.S. Lord John Marbury. Rees became a U.S. citizen in 1989.
Rees also played Peter Bogdonavich in Bob Fosse’s
Star 80, a movie about the tragic life and death of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten. Other movies included Mel Brooks’
Robin Hood: Men in Tights,
Frida and
The Prestige.
He got into theater by way of his education in art. While painting scenery at Wimbledon Theatre, he was asked to fill what turned out to be the lead role in a play. He segued to the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967, performing in
The Comedy of Errors,
Three Sisters,
The Merchant of Venice,
Othello,
Twelfth Night and
Cymbeline. He later worked with Tom Stoppard, beginning with the London production of
The Real Thing. He also appeared in Stoppard’s
Hapgood as a Russian double agent.
He returned to Broadway in a version of
The Red Shoes and then in a 1995 production of Cocteau’s romantic comedy
Indiscretions along with Kathleen Turner, Eileen Atkins, Cynthia Nixon and a young Jude Law. He earned a Tony nomination for
Red Shoes and won an Obie Award in Jon Robin Baitz’s
The End of the Day.
After Rees turned to writing and directing, he and his husband, writer Rick Elice, collaborated on
Peter and the Starcatchers, based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Co-directed by Rees and Alex Timber, the show debuted at the La Jolla Playhouse and traveled to Off Broadway then to Broadway in 2012. It earned several Tony noms, including one for Rees and Timbers. Rees went on the following year to appear in an acclaimed revival of Terence Rattigan’s
The Winslow Boy.