John McMartin has passed

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JBroadway
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John McMartin has passed#1
Posted: 7/7/16 at 1:09am

A post on ATC alerted me to this, and a search on Twitter shows many people tweeting about it, including Shaun Cassidy, his co-star from "The Subject Was Roses." 

https://twitter.com/shaunpcassidy/status/750916983970029568

A very great loss, indeed. I had the pleasure of seeing him in Anything Goes and All The Way, as well as hearing him on multiple cast recordings. A wonderful actor, who will be sorely missed from the NY stage. 

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John McMartin has passed#2
Posted: 7/7/16 at 1:16am

Sorry to hear this.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.
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Mildred Plotka
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John McMartin has passed#3
Posted: 7/7/16 at 1:27am

So sad. Rip to a talented, kind man. I was just listening to Follies the other day and remembered that he was the only of the 4 leads left.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luydh4zUry4

 

"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
Updated On: 7/7/16 at 01:27 AM
UncleCharlie
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John McMartin has passed#4
Posted: 7/7/16 at 1:39am

Like so many character actors, the name may not instantly ring a bell but you see the face and in his case, hear the voice and you immediately recall seeing him in a dozen different things, R.I.P. John.

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John McMartin has passed#5
Posted: 7/7/16 at 2:07am

RIP, so very sad to hear. He had a marvellous career.

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Scarywarhol
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John McMartin has passed#6
Posted: 7/7/16 at 2:43am

One of the greatest. What a fabulous list of shows he was involved in. And what a true pro all his life. 

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TotallyEffed
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John McMartin has passed#7
Posted: 7/7/16 at 4:29am

What a legend. So sorry to hear this.

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John McMartin has passed#8
Posted: 7/7/16 at 4:42am

Such a fantastic actor, he will be missed.

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John McMartin has passed#9
Posted: 7/7/16 at 4:56am

This is extremely sad and shocking news. He was constantly working and always elevated both the material and other actors in whatever play he was in. "The Road You Didn't Take" is one of the greatest and his version is still the one to beat. 

Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco. Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
After Eight
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John McMartin has passed#10
Posted: 7/7/16 at 5:51am

So sorry to hear this. He was great in everything he appeared in. He was so wonderful in the elevator scene in Sweet Charity.

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John McMartin has passed#11
Posted: 7/7/16 at 6:51am

He was a bright light on the stage for so many years, almost right up until the end. Here is a link to his paid death notice, which appeared in the Times today:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=john-mcmartin&pid=180582318&

I imagine a formal obituary will follow.

"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
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John McMartin has passed#12
Posted: 7/7/16 at 6:54am

What a wonderful contribution he made.  A great man.

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John McMartin has passed#13
Posted: 7/7/16 at 6:55am

Saw him in Into The Woods and Grey Gardens. And enjoyed him over the years on many cast recordings and videos. A great loss.

Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
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John McMartin has passed#14
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:00am

Aw dammit. John McMartin has passed I saw him in Anything Goes with SF and LO, and he was great.

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John McMartin has passed#15
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:02am

I had the pleasure of interviewing John for BWW several years ago and he mailed me a Christmas card every year since. A true gentleman.

"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
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John McMartin has passed#16
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:05am

Very sad to hear this. I saw him on Broadway in "Show Boat" and "Grey Gardens." He was always memorable, and so talented. RIP

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mamaleh
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John McMartin has passed#17
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:21am

He was my very first Broadway crush, back in my adolescence.  What an amazingly versatile actor and lovely human being, one of the stalwarts of Broadway.  About 20 years ago I wrote him a letter wishing him well on his new project and detailing how I'd followed his career since SWEET CHARITY, and he invited me and my husband to meet him backstage after a performance. I sent him a birthday card every year and made sure to catch each of his NYC stage appearances.  My sympathies to his family. What a loss to the theater--even if it never rewarded him with the Tony he so richly deserved. .

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John McMartin has passed#18
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:24am

^ Agree 100%. It would be lovely to see him honored with a Lifetime Achievement Tony. 

Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco. Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
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John McMartin has passed#19
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:27am

Saw him list in "Is He Dead?" Totally elevated the material. A life well lived.

Words that confuse censors:Fecund,penal,taint, titmouse, cockatoo,coccyx, ballcock, cockeye, prickly,kumquat, titter,cunning linguist, insertion, gobble, guzzle, swallow, manhole, rimshot,ramrod,come, fallacious, lugubrious,rectify,Uranus, angina, paradiddle,spotted dick,dictum, frock,cunctation, engorge,turgid,stiff, bush, uvula, crapulence, masticate, Dick Butkus, gherkin and of course the always bewildering lickety split. As you can see, context is every thing. Chuck Lorre Addendum: 555 382 5968 "Sexarama, Hexarama, Queeriosis, Feariosis!" Alec Baldwin “I’m going to have to science the shit outta this.” The Martian
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John McMartin has passed#20
Posted: 7/7/16 at 7:44am

I'm shocked and saddened by the news. What a loss. Rest in peace. 

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John McMartin has passed#21
Posted: 7/7/16 at 8:31am

RIP...a true Broadway legend and a real gentleman... 

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John McMartin has passed#22
Posted: 7/7/16 at 8:31am

I forgot he was in the Showboat revival which I had seen numerous times.

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John McMartin has passed#23
Posted: 7/7/16 at 8:35am

What a talented actor! He will be missed. My condolences to his family and many friends and followers. 

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John McMartin has passed#24
Posted: 7/7/16 at 8:36am

 

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

 

 

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John McMartin has passed#25
Posted: 7/7/16 at 8:48am

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