John McMartin has passed

[YouDon'tClimbTrees?]

Very sad. I saw him in Grey Gardens and Is He Dead? but I also used to see him walking through Shubert Alley.

[CarlosAlberto]

So sad to wake up to this news. He was a favorite of mine. The first thing I ever saw him in was a Season 1 episode of "The Partridge Family" where he courts Shirley and the kids do everything to break them up because they mistake him for a gigolo. 

The came "Sweet Charity"...then "Follies"...he will be missed.



 

[MichelleCraig]

When I was 13, I saw him in FOLLIES at the Colonial Theater in Boston; pre-Broadway. Also saw him in INTO THE WOODS, SHOWBOAT and GREY GARDENS on Broadway. I agree with other posters, his version of "The Road you Didn't Take" is the best...

[wonderfulwizard11]

What an absolute shame. I only saw him live in Grey Gardens, but he was wonderful in it. What a wonderful career, and by all accounts he was a lovely man. I agree that it would be enormously fitting to honor him with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Tony.  

[GavestonPS]

PalJoey said: " 

I saw this (FOLLIES) five times. Without bombast or exaggeration, I can honestly say it changed my life.

 

"

Mine, too, as you know. Thanks to another member of the SOLOMON'S CHILD cast, my husband and I got to have dinner with John during previews for that failed play, a decade after FOLLIES. He graciously indulged my babbling about what FOLLIES and his performance had meant to me. (I still cringe to recall my behavior.)

In my brief experience, he was very much a gentleman, in the best sense of the word. And I always loved him on stage. He had one of those wonderful and distinctive musical theater voices that could be heard and understood no matter what the orchestra was playing nor what else was happening on stage.

[10086sunset]

A true loss. A true talent. 

[Bettyboy72]

A true talent and a gentleman. He was very nice to me at the Grey Gardens stage door. Also, he is in one of my favorite campy movies, "Who's That Girl" with Madonna. He's very funny. RIP John xo

[themysteriousgrowl]

This man was truly a marvel, entirely unique and such a professional through and through. I had the privilege of seeing him in GREY GARDENS and ANYTHING GOES, and his comic performance as Elisha Whitney in the latter was, as far as I’m concerned, definitive.

[Mike3]

Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. 

[Ranger Tom]

Wonderful career.  RIP.

[Harriet Craig]

RIP to a fine actor and an Upper West Side neighbor. I used to see him in my neighborhood supermarket (back when we still had supermarkets on the UWS).

 

In addition to his great stage work, he was memorable in an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show ("Mary Gets A Lawyer", which you can find on Youtube.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

I found out moments ago. This is very upsetting. He was a wonderful actor and a great music interpreter. From Follies to Grey Gardens and beyond, he was a captivating presence and thrilling actor. There are no words.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTWezTaM2u0

[PalJoey]

 

The invaluable YouTube poster 1971FolliesFan has posted this mashup of McMartin singing "The Road You Didn't Take" in 1971 with the version from one of the Sondheim birthday concerts a few years ago:

 

 

[qolbinau]

The ending of the birthday concert seems so real I can't tell if he is acting or not. 

[BIG BALONEY]

He will always live in our hearts. A Prince who gave so much to us all. Attention will be paid.

[mamaleh]

Great YouTube mashup, thank you. He was the epitome of the singing actor, someone who lived the lyrics as he sang them.  I will miss his presence on stage so very much. 

[themysteriousgrowl]

That Birthday Concert performance of "The Road You Didn't Take" never fails to astonish me. I watched it three times last night, and I can never wrap my head around how he pulls it off.

[AC126748]

Beautiful obituary in this morning's Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/arts/john-mcmartin-sweet-charity-star-dies-at-86.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fobituaries&action=click&contentCollection=obituaries&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

When Mr. Prince asked him to join the cast of “Showboat,” he begged off, saying he was not right for the part of Cap’n Andy, but eventually gave in.

“I love it when Cap’n Andy says in the last act, ‘The lucky people are the ones that get to do what they enjoy doin’,’” Mr. McMartin told The Chicago Tribune. “That’s the way I feel about my work. I’m one of the lucky people.”

[DottieD'Luscia]

Very nice obituary.

How strange that Dennis Kelly, Eli Whitney, in the recent Anything Goes tour passed away at the end of May.