Roger Rees
Rees in 2004
Born	(1944-05-05)5 May 1944 Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales
Died	10 July 2015(2015-07-10) (aged 71) New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1967–2015
Spouse	Rick Elice ​ (m. 2011)​

Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director. He won anOlivier Award and aTony Award for his performance as the lead inThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also receivedObie Awards for his role inThe End of the Day and as co-director ofPeter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

On television, he playedRobin Colcord inCheers andLord John Marbury inThe West Wing. He also appeared as the Sheriff of Rottingham inMel Brooks'Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Rees was born inAberystwyth, Cardiganshire,Wales, the son of Doris Louise (née Smith), a shop clerk, and William John Rees, a police officer.^[1] He and his parents moved toBalham, London, where he grew up. He studied art at theCamberwell College of Arts and theSlade School of Fine Art, turning to acting when he was painting backdrops at theWimbledon Theatre and was asked to fill a part in a play.^[2]

Rees continued his career with theRoyal Shakespeare Company.^[3][4] He played Malcolm in the acclaimedTrevor Nunn 1976 stage and 1978 television production ofMacbeth.^[4] Rees created the title role in the original production ofThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,David Edgar's stage adaptation of theCharles Dickens novel, winning aLaurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play in 1980 and aTony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1982.^[4] Arecorded version of the play also earned him anEmmy nomination in 1983.^[5] He also starred in the original production ofThe Real Thing by Tom Stoppard at theStrand Theatre in London in 1982.

Rees began to work in television during the 1980s, appearing oppositeLaurence Olivier inThe Ebony Tower (1984). That same year, Rees portrayed Fred Hollywell inA Christmas Carol, which he also narrated, starringGeorge C. Scott asScrooge. In 1986, he playedWilliam Tyndale inGod's Outlaw. From 1988 to 1991 he starred in the British sitcomSingles, with co-starJudy Loe. From 1989 to 1993, he appeared intermittently on the long-running American television seriesCheers as the English business tycoonRobin Colcord, a love interest forRebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). He playedBritish AmbassadorLord John Marbury in several episodes ofThe West Wing from 2000 to 2005.^[2] His later television appearances also includeMy So-Called Life as substitute teacher Mr. Racine, and James MacPherson onWarehouse 13.^[4] His film career began in the 1980s. Rees played the Sheriff of Rottingham in the Mel Brooks movieRobin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).^[4] Rees' later film appearances includeFrida (2002),The Prestige (2006), andThe Pink Panther (2006).^[4]

Continuing his work in the theatre through the 1990s, both as an actor and a director, Rees was awarded anObie Award for his 1992 performance in the Off-Broadway playThe End of the Day. In 1995, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role inIndiscretions.^[4][6] He recorded many audiobooks, includingMemnoch the Devil by Anne Rice.^[7]

From November 2004 to October 2007, Rees was artistic director of theWilliamstown Theatre Festival, only the fourth person to hold the post in its half-century history.^[4][8] He replacedNathan Lane in the role ofGomez Addams in the Broadway musical adaptation ofThe Addams Family, on 22 March 2011 and remained until the end of the run on 31 December 2011.^[9][10]

In 2012, Rees took his one-man Shakespeare show,What You Will, to London's West End, playing a three-week engagement at the Apollo Theatre.

In 2013, Rees directed Crispin Whitell's play,The Primrose Path, at theGuthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

In 2014, Rees directedDog and Pony, a musical written by Rick Elice and Michael Patrick Walker, which had its world premiere at theOld Globe Theatre in San Diego.

His last role was as Anton Schell in the musical version ofThe Visit, oppositeChita Rivera, which opened on Broadway on 23 April 2015 and closed on 14 June 2015.^[11] Rees left the production in May 2015 owing to his illness.^[12]

Rees was to have directed a new musical written by Elice and Will Van Dyke,Magnificent Climb, in the fall of 2016 atMCC Theater in New York City. He was also scheduled to perform his one-man Shakespeare show,What You Will in New York in the autumn of 2015, and had hoped to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a stint inDon Quixote in 2016. He was inducted into the exclusive entertainment fraternity, theGrand Order of Water Rats, as a full member.^[13]

Rees lived in the United States for more than 25 years^[2] and became a naturalized American citizen in 1989.^[5] Heconverted to Judaism in the 1980s.^[14] Rees married his partner of 33 years, playwrightRick Elice, in 2011, shortly aftersame-sex marriage in New York was legalised.^[15][16][17] Rees and Elice also collaborated professionally, including as co-playwrights of the comedic thrillerDouble Double.^[18] Elice co-wrote (withMarshall Brickman) the libretto forThe Addams Family musical, the cast of which Rees had joined on 22 March 2011. In 2012, Elice and Rees received Tony Award nominations for Elice's stage adaptation and Rees' co-direction (withAlex Timbers), respectively, ofPeter and the Starcatcher.^[4] In October 2017, Elice wrote a memoir of his life with Rees, entitledFinding Roger: An Improbably Theatrical Love Story.^[19]

After a diagnosis ofbrain cancer in October 2014, Rees focused his energy on his commitment to playing oppositeChita Rivera on Broadway inThe Visit, the final musical written byJohn Kander andFred Ebb. While undergoing two brain surgeries, two courses ofradiation and ongoingchemotherapy, Rees managed to rehearse, preview and open inThe Visit on 23 April 2015. By the middle of May, it had become too difficult for him to speak, and he left the show. Rees died at age 71 at his home in New York City on 10 July 2015. On Wednesday, 15 July 2015, the marquee lights at all the theatres on Broadway were dimmed in his honour.^[20] His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. Two months later, there was a memorial service for him at Broadway'sNew Amsterdam Theatre.^[21] On 16 November 2015, Rees was inducted, posthumously, into the Broadway Theatre Hall of Fame.^[22]

• Roger Rees at theInternet Broadway Database
• Roger Rees atIMDb
• Roger Rees at theInternet Off-Broadway Database
• Article on appointment to Williamstown Theater Festival

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