Ron Vawter

Ron Vawter (December 9, 1948 – April 16, 1994) was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. Vawter performed in most of the group's works until his death from a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 45.

Life and career Vawter was born in Latham, New York, to Elton Lee Vawter (1925–1972) and Matilda Buttoni (1925–2010). Vawter's parents both served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and Vawter himself enlisted in the U.S. Army on his 17th birthday. He later studied theology and literature at Siena College, where his mother was employed.

Although he had initially aspired to become a military chaplain, Vawter instead accepted work as an Army recruiter in Lower Manhattan. Vawter first became involved in acting when he joined an experimental theater troupe known as The Performance Group, whose SoHo theater he would pass by every day while walking to and from his recruiting office. Vawter, along with six other performers – including actor Willem Dafoe and Dafoe's longtime partner Elizabeth LeCompte – founded what would eventually become known as The Wooster Group.

During his time with the group, Vawter originated roles in Rumstick Road, Nayatt School, Point Judith (an epilog), Route 1 & 9, Hula, L.S.D. (...Just the High Points...), Frank Dell's The Temptation of Saint Antony, North Atlantic, and Brace Up!. He also appeared on video in Fish Story, and in the Group's video pieces White Homeland Commando and Flaubert Dreams of Travel but the Illness of His Mother Prevents It. Other of Vawter's performances included Mother Courage and Her Children (Bertolt Brecht), The Marilyn Project (David Gaard), Cops (Terry Curtis Fox), and The Balcony (Jean Genet) – all directed by Richard Schechner.

In addition to his 15-year work at the Performing Garage, Vawter appeared in Hollywood films, including King Blank, Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, generally playing character roles. He also performed in theatre pieces by Richard Foreman, Jeff Weiss, and Mabou Mines.

Vawter explored themes of sexual identity in his 1992 work for the stage, Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, two linked monologues that contrast the characters of two gay men who died of AIDS. The Jack Smith section was a re-creation of Smith's performance "What's Underground About Marshmallows?," and the Roy Cohn section was written by Gary Indiana. It was directed by Greg Mehrten and created with Clay Shirky and Marianne Weems. The piece was released as a film directed by Jill Godmilow in which the sections were intercut.

For 1993's Philadelphia, the film production company TriStar Pictures initially refused to insure Vawter, who was openly HIV-positive at the time, insisting director Jonathan Demme recast him. Demme refused, even changing the shooting schedule to accommodate Vawter after he was hospitalized for a month.

The Ron Vawter Papers is a collection that documents his career in motion pictures, television, and the theater; it includes production materials, scripts, photographs, slides, publicity material, personal papers, and correspondence. The collection is held by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The play was written by John Jesurun at Vawter's own request, and was intended as a metaphor for the ostracizing effect of the AIDS disease. During Vawter's performance, lesions from Kaposi's Sarcoma were visible on the actor's body, who by then was in the advanced stages of the dreaded disease.

Vawter died in his sleep of an AIDS-related heart attack on April 16, 1994, while onboard a transatlantic flight from Zurich to New York City. He was returning home from Brussels, where he had just completed his work on Philoctetes Variations less than a month prior. At the time of his death, Vawter lived in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Vawter was 45.

Filmography