Roger Rees

Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh-American actor and director. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

On television, he played Robin Colcord in Cheers and Lord John Marbury in The West Wing. He also appeared as the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Early life Rees was born in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales, the son of Doris Louise (née Smith), a shop clerk, and William John Rees, a police officer. He and his parents moved to Balham, London, where he grew up. He studied art at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Slade School of Fine Art, turning to acting when he was painting backdrops at the Wimbledon Theatre and was asked to fill a part in a play.

Career

Rees continued his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He recorded many audiobooks, including Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice.

From November 2004 to October 2007, Rees was artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, only the fourth person to hold the post in its half-century history. He replaced Nathan Lane in the role of Gomez Addams in the Broadway musical adaptation of The Addams Family, on 22 March 2011 and remained until the end of the run on 31 December 2011.

In 2012, Rees took his one-man Shakespeare show, What You Will, to London's West End, playing a three-week engagement at the Apollo Theatre.

In 2013, Rees directed Crispin Whitell's play The Primrose Path at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

In 2014, Rees directed Dog and Pony, a musical written by Rick Elice and Michael Patrick Walker, which had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

His last role was as Anton Schell in the musical version of The Visit, opposite Chita Rivera, which opened on Broadway on 23 April 2015 and closed on 14 June 2015. Rees left the production in May 2015 owing to his illness.

Rees was to have directed a new musical called Magnificent Climb, written by Elice and Will Van Dyke in the fall of 2016 at MCC Theater in New York City. He was also scheduled to perform his one-man Shakespeare show What You Will in New York in the autumn of 2015 and had hoped to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a stint in Don Quixote in 2016. Rees was inducted into the exclusive entertainment fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats, as a full member.

Personal life Rees lived in the United States for more than 25 years He converted to Judaism in the 1980s. Rees married his partner of 33 years, playwright Rick Elice, in 2011, shortly after same-sex marriage in New York was legalised. Rees and Elice also collaborated professionally, including as co-playwrights of the comedic thriller Double Double. Elice co-wrote (with Marshall Brickman) the libretto for The Addams Family musical, the cast of which Rees joined on 22 March 2011. In 2012, Elice and Rees received Tony Award nominations for Elice's stage adaptation and Rees' co-direction (with Alex Timbers), respectively, of Peter and the Starcatcher.

Illness and death After a diagnosis of brain cancer in October 2014, Rees focused his energy on his commitment to playing opposite Chita Rivera on Broadway in The Visit, the final musical written by John Kander and Fred Ebb. While undergoing two brain surgeries, two courses of radiation and ongoing chemotherapy, Rees managed to rehearse, preview and open in The Visit on 23 April 2015. By the middle of May, it had become too difficult for him to speak, and he left the show. Rees died at age 71 at his home in New York City on 10 July 2015. On 15 July 2015, the marquee lights at all the theatres on Broadway were dimmed in his honour. His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. Two months later, there was a memorial service for him at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre. On 16 November 2015, Rees was inducted, posthumously, into the Broadway Theatre Hall of Fame.

Acting credits Film YearTitleRoleNotes 1983 Star 80 Aram Nicholas 1984 A Christmas Carol Fred - Scrooge's nephew 1986 God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale William Tyndale 1991 If Looks Could Kill – Teen Agent Augustus Steranko 1992 Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot J. Parnell 1993 Robin Hood: Men in Tights Sheriff of Rottingham 1996 The Substance of Fire Max Sudden Manhattan Murphy 1997 Trouble on the Corner Mr. McMurtry 1998 Next Stop Wonderland Ray Thornback 1999 A Midsummer Night's Dream Peter Quince The Bumblebee Flies Anyway Dr. Croft 2000 BlackMale Bill Fontaine 2001 3 A.M. Priest 2002 Return 2 Never Land Edward (voice) The Scorpion King King Pheron Frida Guillermo Kahlo The Emperor's Club Mr. Castle 2004 The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea Tulse Luper The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish Going Under Peter Crazy Like a Fox Nat Banks 2005 Game 6 Jack Haskins A Life in Suitcases Tulse Luper The New World Virginia Company Representative Uncredited 2006 The Pink Panther Raymond Larocque East Broadway Andrew Barrington Sr. The Treatment Leighton Proctor Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Mr. Hobbs The Prestige Owens 2007 The Invasion Yorish 2008 The Narrows Professor Reyerson 2010 Happy Tears Antiques Dealer 2011 Almost Perfect Kai Lee Portraits in Dramatic Time Himself 2014 Affluenza Mr. Carson 2015 Survivor Dr. Emil Balan Final film role

Television Year Title Role Notes 1975 The Place of Peace Willy television movie 1982 The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby televised RSC production 1984 Tales of the Unexpected James Howgill episode "The Reconciliation" A Christmas Carol Fred Holywell / narrator television movie 1988–89 Singles Malcolm 14 episodes 1989–93 Cheers Robin Colcord 17 episodes 1990 The Young Riders Tyler Dewitt episode "Lady for a Night" 1991–93 The Legend of Prince Valiant Rathburn / Lord Theobine [voices] 3 episodes 1992 Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After Prince Charles television movie P.J. Sparkles Betty [voice] 1993 The Tower Mr. Littlehill 1994 Mighty Max Additional voice [voice] episode "Around the World in Eighty Arms" 1994–95 M.A.N.T.I.S. Dr. John Stonebrake main cast, 22 episodes 1994 My So-Called Life Vic Racine episode "The Substitute" 1995 The Possession of Michael D. Robin Banks (hypnotist) television movie Gargoyles Prince Malcolm [voice] episodes "Long Way to Morning" and "Vows" Phantom 2040 Ikon [voice] episode "The Sins of the Fathers: Part One" 1996 Titanic J. Bruce Ismay television miniseries 1997 Boston Common President Harrison Cross 8 episodes Liberty! The American Revolution Thomas Paine 5 episodes Extreme Ghostbusters The Piper (voice) episode "The Pied Piper of Manhattan" Damian Cromwell's Postcards from America Damian Cromwell 1999 Double Platinum Marc Reckler television movie 2000 The Crossing Hugh Mercer 2000–05 The West Wing Lord John Marbury 5 episodes, recurring cast 2001 Oz Jack Eldridge episode "Medium Rare" 2002 The Education of Max Bickford Dan Franklin episode "The Bad Girl" 2003 Law & Order Headmaster Wyatt Scofield episode "Kid Pro Quo" 2005–06 Related Bob's Dad episodes "Have Yourself a Sorelli Little Christmas" and "Sisters are Forever" 2007 Grey's Anatomy Dr. Colin Marlow 3 episodes 2009 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Duke DeGuerin episode "Alpha Dog" 2009–13 Warehouse 13 James MacPherson 7 episodes 2010 The Cleveland Show (voice) episode "Brown History Month" The Good Wife Dr. Todd Grossman episode "Nine Hours" 2012 Submissions Only Roger Rees episode "Y'all Were Great!" 2012–14 Elementary Alistair Moore episodes "Flight Risk" and "No Lack of Void" 2013 The Middle Mr. Glover episode "The Smile" 2013–14 It Could Be Worse Roger Goldstein episodes "Stuck with Me" and "Uncharted Territory" 2014 Forever Priest episode "Diamonds Are Forever" 2015 American Experience – The Pilgrims Governor Bradford episode "The Pilgrims" 2016 The Mayflower Pilgrims: Behind the Myth. posthumous release

Theatre

The Comedy of Errors (as Antipholus of Syracuse), Stratford-on-Avon and London, 1976 Three Sisters (as Tusenbach) Stratford-upon-Avon London and tour, 1979 "The Suicide" by Nikolai Erdman (as Semyon Semyonovich). Royal Shakespeare Company. 1979. Cymbeline (as Posthumus), Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon 1979 Cymbeline (as Posthumus), Royal National Theatre, 1980 The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (as Nicholas Nickleby), Royal Shakespeare Company Aldwych Theatre, London, June 1980 – June 1981 Plymouth Theatre, Broadway, September 1981 – March 1982 The Real Thing (as Henry), London, 1982 Hapgood by Tom Stoppard as Kerner, London March 1988 Hamlet as Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford upon Avon, 1984 The End of the Day (as Graydon Massey), Playwrights Horizons, off-Broadway, 1992 Indiscretions (as George), Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway, 1995 A Man of No Importance (as Alfie Byrne), Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, off-Broadway, 2002 Waiting for Godot (as Vladimir, replacing Patrick Stewart), Haymarket Theatre, London, 2010 Waiting for Godot (as Vladimir), His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, 2010 Waiting for Godot (as Vladimir), Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, 2010 Waiting for Godot (as Vladimir), Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, 2010 The Addams Family (as Gomez [Replaced Nathan Lane]), Broadway, 2011 Peter and the Starcatcher (co-director with Alex Timbers), Broadway, 2012 (and then it moved to an Off-Broadway theatre in 2013) What You Will (Actor, Writer, Director) Apollo Theater, London 2012 Herringbone (Director) 2012 The Primrose Path (Director), Guthrie Theater, 2013 The Winslow Boy (as Arthur Winslow), American Airlines Theatre, Broadway, 2013 Dog and Pony (Director) Old Globe Theater 2014 The Visit (musical version; as Anton Schell), Broadway, 2015