Tony & Olivier Winner Roger Rees, Who Last Appeared on Broadway in The Visit, Dead at 71

Tony and Olivier winner Roger Rees has died at the age of 71. His death was confirmed by his spokesperson Rick Miramontez, who said that he had passed away tonight at his home in New York City, after a brief illness. He was surrounded by his husband, the playwright Rick Elice, and family. The stage and screen actor recently appeared in the Broadway production of The Visit. He left the show about a month after opening to undergo treatment for a medical condition.

Rees was born on May 5, 1944 in Wales to Doris and William Rees. He initially studied painting at the Camberwell College of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art. He began his career as a performer in 1968 with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which led to his Broadway debut in the 1974 revival of London Assurance. He went on to play Malcolm in Trevor Nunn’s production of Macbeth at the company’s The Other Place black box space. The staging and his performance were preserved on screen in a 1978 recording.

Rees (and Nunn) returned to the Main Stem in 1981 in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, reprising his Olivier-winning performance from the West End production. The eight and a half hour-long epic earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, and was then adapted into a four-part miniseries, which brought him an Emmy nomination. In 1982, he went back to London to star in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing.

His next Broadway appearance was short-lived; he was originally cast in the 1993 musical adaptation of The Red Shoes but was replaced in previews (along with numerous other performers). He returned to the New York stage the following seasons in Indiscretions, for which he was again Tony-nominated.

Rees went on to star in Broadway revivals of The Rehearsal and Uncle Vanya and The Winslow Boy. In 2011, he took over for Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family. A year prior, he starred in the London and Australian touring production of Waiting for Godot opposite Ian McKellen.

His third and final Tony nomination, however, did not come from performing, but rather from directing in 2012, for Peter and the Starcatcher, written by his husband Rick Elice. He shared the nomination with co-director Alex Timbers. His additional directorial credits included Mud, River, Stone, Arms and the Man and Treemonisha.

Rees also served as the artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival from 2004 to 2007. Seven years after his departure as artistic director, he returned to the Massachusetts organization to appear opposite Chita Rivera in The Visit; the Kander and Ebb musical marked his final bow on the Broadway stage.

In addition to the Nicholas Nickleby series, Rees’ numerous screen credits included recurring roles on The West Wing and Cheers, as well as the films Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Frida and The Scorpion King.

Rees is survived by Elice; in an interview with The New Yorker, the pair revealed that they met outside the stage door of the Winter Garden Theatre after the dress rehearsal of Cats (Elice handled the production's advertising, and Rees was a guest of Nunn). In addition to Peter and the Starcatcher, the two collaborated on the play Double Double. The two wed in 2011, days after New York’s Marriage Equality Act was passed.