Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
#1Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 9:12pm
I'm seeing from his friends on Facebook that he's just passed away. Such a talented man.... 
smidge
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/06
#2Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 9:23pm
Very sad. Saw him in Hairspray and Promises Promises. Such a talent.
#3Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 9:31pm
I was literally just thinking how well he was doing. Damn this year
saxpower
Featured Actor Joined: 9/14/16
#4Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 10:26pm
I saw him in Will Rodgers Follies. Met him at stage door- very gracious. Occurs to me- quite an impression if I remember that after all this time.
#6Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 11:35pm
Harvey posted a video of the two of them doing "You're Timeless To Me" and I must admit I had a good cry. Something so pure and joyful about that number and the two of them specifically. A Tony well deserved. Very sad news...
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#7Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 11:36pm
Saw him in "Will Rogers Follies" and Rumors" on Broadway, he was a joy to watch.
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#8Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/19/16 at 11:39pm
F#%k 2016.
Such loss.
RIP Mr. Latessa. Thank you for the joy.
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
bwaylyric
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/22/03
#9Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 1:22am
It's a shame that Playbill still doesn't have this news up on their site.
#10Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 7:12am
I just saw his Tony Award speech. He looked like such a sweet, fun man. And 74 years old!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avaw9LqVQmc
djoko84
Broadway Star Joined: 3/14/13
#11Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 7:21am
This is such a sad loss. I saw him in Hairspray and he was so amazing. Glad he won a Tony. RIP
sabrelady
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#13Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 9:06am
I was fortunate enough to see him on B'way only once, but in a little something called Rags.
From that cast both Larry Kert and Marcia Lewis have been gone for years... and now Dick Latessa.
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#14Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 9:14am
bwaylyric said: "It's a shame that Playbill still doesn't have this news up on their site. "
Playbill doesn't tend to do any actual reporting.
I adored his performance in The Lyons. Rest in peace, Dick.
temms
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/04
#15Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 10:18am
So sorry to hear this. "Damn Yankees" was one of my first Broadway shows and one of those people who's popped up every now again ever since and was always wonderful. He got perhaps the single biggest laugh I've ever heard in the theatre at the Encores "Promises, Promises" with the line "It's for you." Just a perfectly lobbed grenade of laughter. He did the same role in the Broadway revival but it didn't land nearly the way it did at City Center - the fact that it was three mundane words that brought down the house (the other actors in the scene certainly helped) always stuck with me.
And I've heard nothing but the sweetest, nicest things about him as a person from my colleagues who've worked with him. I never had the pleasure, but it sounds like he was the kind of person who made any production immeasurably better onstage and off by his presence. I'm so glad he got to have such a signature role in such a huge hit as "Hairspray".
bwaylyric
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/22/03
#16Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 11:03am
neonlightsxo said: "bwaylyric said: "It's a shame that Playbill still doesn't have this news up on their site. "
Playbill doesn't tend to do any actual reporting.
"
Totally agree. But if Honey Boo Boo attends Matilda, the headline goes up asap. Sad.
mamaleh
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
#17Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 11:11am
Very sad. Saw him in numerous stage productions incliding FOLLIES, HAIRSPRAY, PROMISES PROMISES, and THE LYONS. Always added heart and, as appropriate, hilarity. He will be missed.
Updated On: 12/20/16 at 11:11 AM
#18Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 11:13am
His performance in The Lyons is a true example of how a world-class actor can do a lot with a little. A brilliant actor, RIP.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#19Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 3:58pm
With all due respect, Mr. Latessa was 87 years old - not 74.
#20Dick Latessa Has Passed Away
Posted: 12/20/16 at 4:00pm
^ He was 74 years old when he won his Tony. That is what the poster was referring to.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
