Obituaries

Roger Rees, Tony-Winning Actor of Stage and Screen, Dies at 71

Rees appeared on Broadway this spring in ”The Visit”.

Roger Rees in his Tony- and Oliver Award-winning performance as Nicholas Nickleby in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
Roger Rees in his Tony- and Oliver Award-winning performance as Nicholas Nickleby in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

Roger Rees, the Tony- and Olivier Award-winning star of Broadway's Nicholas Nickleby and most recently The Visit, passed away Friday, July 10, at the age of 71 following a brief battle with cancer. Rees died at his home in New York City with his husband, the playwright Rick Elice, and friends and family at his side, according to Rees' representative, Rick Miramontez.

The son of a shop clerk and a police officer, Rees was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, on May 5, 1944, and grew up in London. After attending the Slade School of Fine Art, he began a career with the Royal Shakespeare Company that would lead him to his 1980 Olivier Award and his 1982 Tony Award for playing the title role in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, an eight-and-a-half-hour stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel directed by Trevor Nunn. It was not his first time on a New York stage; he had made his Broadway debut, also with the RSC, in a 1974 revival of London Assurance.

"Roger was inspirational," Nunn said in a statement. "He had the perpetual boyishness and mischief of a Peter Pan, extraordinary wit combined with a gift for self-satire, and dauntless optimism coupled with deep-rooted belief. All these ingredients went into his acting, and I am sure, into his directing, and gave him an aura of rare, generous spirited humanity…I spent a magical evening with him in New York only a few months ago. He talked of his illness — with optimism, with wit, with self-satire, and with deep-rooted belief…and once again, to be in his presence was inspirational."

Rees' many other acting appearances included the original London production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (as Henry). In 2010, he toured Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa with Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot (replacing Patrick Stewart as Vladimir). On Broadway, he starred in Indiscretions, The Addams Family, The Winslow Boy, and, this past spring, The Visit (with Chita Rivera), during which his run was cut short due to his illness.

Roger Rees with his husband, Rick Elice, at the opening of off-Broadway's The Other Josh Cohen in 2012.
Roger Rees with his husband, Rick Elice, at the opening of off-Broadway's The Other Josh Cohen in 2012.
(© David Gordon)

Off-Broadway, he directed, conceived, and wrote the book for Here Lies Jenny and starred in the Ahrens and Flaherty musical A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center Theater. As a director, he received a Tony nomination for his work on Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher and served as artistic leader of Williamstown Theatre Festival from 2004-2007.

Also a prolific television character actor, Rees made memorable appearances as Robin Colcord on Cheers (1989-1993), Lord John Marbury on The West Wing (2000-2005), and Dr. Colin Marlow on Grey's Anatomy (2007), among other shows. His many films include Robin Hood: Men in Tights and The Prestige.

Rees is survived by his husband, The Addams Family and Peter and the Starcatcher scribe Rick Elice, whom he married in 2011. A private funeral service will be held next week, and details of a memorial are forthcoming.

Roger Rees takes his final Broadway bow, on the opening night of The Visit in 2015.
Roger Rees takes his bow on the opening night of Broadway's The Visit, April 23, 2015.
(© David Gordon)