Roger Rees (1944-2015)
Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 9:00PM 
He spent the last three months of his career treading the boards with Chita Rivera. There are a helluva lot worse swan songs. "The Visit" closed on Broadway in June and Tony winner Roger Rees, who was leading man to Chita River in that strange but beautiful musical, died yesterday less than a month after closing night, though he had had to leave the musical early due to illness. He is survived by his husband.
I first became aware of him when I was a kid when PBS showed The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) miniseries in which he played the lead role and was Emmy nominated. I didn't know at the time that it was his signature role and he'd already won the Olivier and Tony for it.
I had the privilege of seeing him on stage twice. When I had just moved to NYC in 1999, I went to an Off Broadway play to see Uma Thurman (he was her leading man) and I caught The Visit early in previews. He was having a rough time with the score that night... and I wondered about his health. I kept shooing the thought away -- it was just the grim melodrama of the musical, I told myself, in which Chita keeps essentially presenting him with his own coffin.
Though Rees easily hopped around in all three actors mediums, and appeared in films like Star 80, Robin Hood Men in Tights, the Pfeiffer version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Prestige, and Frida, his most popular roles (aside from Nickleby) tended to be guest spots on television: West Wing and Cheers in particular. My favorite? My So Called Life (1994) in which he has a title role episode "The Substitute" wherein he played a rebel teacher who wakes Angela Chase up with his unorthodox instruction.
Do you have a favorite memory of his work?
Reader Comments (13)
I suppose it's because it was the first time I remember seeing him but I always think of him as Fred, Ebenezer Scrooge's kind nephew in the terrific 1984 version of A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott as Scrooge and Susannah York as Mrs. Cratchit.
After that there were so many wonderful performances including Nicolas Nickleby, his role on The West Wing and dozens of others. A particular favorite was the goofy spy spoof "If Looks Could Kill" where he and Linda Hunt had a great time hamming it up as an evil duo out to take over the world's gold supply.
He will be missed.
Nathaniel, what was the play he was in with Thurman?
Robin Hood: Men in Tights... he was hilarious.
His blink-and-you-miss-him turn in the PBS 'Liberty" miniseries always stuck with me for his portrayal of Thomas Paine, who wrote "These are the times that try men's souls" rallying cry.
That whole miniseries is a cornucopia of character actors -- Rees, Victor Garber, Campbell Scott, Donna Murphy (as Abigail Adams), a fresh-faced Philip Seymour Hoffman, and more, and narrated by Edward Herrmann.
Sean Mathias' staging of Indiscretions (Cocteau's "Les parents terribles") on Broadway in '95 with Rees, Kathleen Turner, Eileen Atkins, Cynthia Nixon and Jude Law (Btoadway debut, nude scene with Nixon). Memorable.
Great actor. I wish I could have seen Indiscretions. The few images available are spectacular
Now that is a helluva FINE face for an old man.
You'll be missed sir.
Seeing him in the all day 8 hour Nicholas Nickleby, one of the greatest Theatrical experiences of my life. We didn't want it to end....
When news of his death started appearing, my first thought was about his episode of MSCL, which I was passionate about during (and after) its too-short run. It's still me favourite pre-Golden Age series. Nice to see your call-out.
I'd seen him in a few films and liked him. I liked his astringent wittiness.
He really endeared himself to me in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespearean clowns (aaiieee) can be so awful and the Dream's "rude mechanicals" absolutely cringe worthy. But this production had Kevin Kline as the best Bottom, Sam Rockwell as the best Flute, and Roger Rees as the best Peter Quince.
Rees had such a reservoir of kindness and patience in the role, you could tell he really cared and looked out for Bottom. An illuminating interpretation.
My favorite is his "West Wing" character Lord John Marbury, who actually gets away with asking the First Lady if he can touch her breasts (he does, of course, ask politely).
I worked at the Off-Broadway theater Playwrights Horizons back in the late 90's. Roger Rees starred in a play there called The Uneasy Chair. I remember him as a reak sweetheart: kind, gracious, and low-maintenance. He will be missed.
Peter -- i think it was Moliere's THE MISANTHROPE but i'm not totally sure. memory is fuzzy as it was 15 16 years ago.