Lansbury Talks Bosley and Plans for Broadway Return Next Year

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Happy Days star Tom Bosley passed away in his home in Palm Springs on October 19. He was 83 years old of natural causes precipitated by a brief battle with lung cancer.

Aside from his supporting role in Happy Days, Thomas Edward "Tom" Bosley appeared in Murder, She Wrote, and Father Dowling Mysteries, as well as the title role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello!. Bosley also toured as Cap'n Andy in Harold Prince's 1994 revival of Show Boat.

Former Murder She Wrote co-star, and Broadway vet, Angela Lansbury recently spoke with TV Guide about her late friend, saying: "He was an actor's actor. He felt that the [happier] the atmosphere on the set was, the more we would get done. And of course, he was right. When I say 'get done,' he knew it was what was on the screen that counted, and his manner and his way of working with other actors was very generous and very understanding. We had new cast coming in every single week and yet we were always playing the same people. Tom was really a consummate actor."

Writes TV Guide: "...the five-time Tony winner, who plans to return to Broadway next year, is "thrilled" that they made their own stamp on prime time with Murder."

For the full report, click here.

Bosley was most known to theatrical audiences for playing New York mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in Fiorello! for which he won a Tony in 1959 as well as creating the role of Maurice in BEAUTY & THE BEAST. 

His other Broadway credits include The Power and the Glory, The Beaux Strategem, Nowhere to Go But Up, A Murdered Among Us, Catch Me If You Can, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and his most recent appearance on Broadway as Herr Schultz in Cabaret opposite Neil Patrick Harris in 2002/2003. 

Mr. Bosley is survived by his wife Patricia Bosley, his brother Richard Bosley, his daughter Amy Baer, stepdaughters Kimberly diBonaventura and Jamie Van Meter and seven grandchildren.