Veteran Broadway Actor Merwin Foard Dies at 59

Merwin Foard, a multi-talented stage actor who accrued more than a dozen Broadway credits throughout his career, died on March 9 in his home state of North Carolina, according to a close friend. Foard was 59.

Foard made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Show Boat (1983), later taking on roles in Mame (1983), Les Misérables (1987), Beauty and the Beast (1994), Jekyll & Hyde (1997), 1776 (1997), Kiss Me, Kate (1999), Oklahoma! (2002), Assassins (2004), La Cage aux Folles (2004), Sweeney Todd (2005), The Little Mermaid (2008), The Addams Family (2010) and Annie (2012).

Foard took Broadway's Show Boat and Les Misérables on the road, later also touring with a 2015 production of The Sound of Music. In addition, he was seen on the main-stem stage in the 2005 benefit Chidren and Art at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

He would return to that main-stem venue years later, from 2014 to 2015 serving as standby to the roles of Jafar and Sultan in Aladdin, which marked his final Broadway credit.