Tony Roberts RIP

Brilliant character actor Tony Roberts has died at 85.

Born, raised, and living his entire life in NYC, Tony Roberts was the quintessential New York actor -- he did theater, TV and movies, his characters always bringing the city to life. 

Tony made several movies with Woody Allen including two of his very best -- Annie Hall and Hannah & Her Sisters. And he made other classic NYC films like Serpico and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.

I also recall him being in an incredible episode of Law & Order back in the 1990s.

Most of all, Tony Roberts was a great Broadway actor, starring in over 20 shows over the decades. I saw him on Broadway twice -- in 1990 in Jerome Robbins' Broadway and in 2009 in The Royal Family which I reviewed here. 

He was also a delight to see, a cool, calm, reassuring prescence, and he was always very funny. His best line in Annie Hall: "Where I used to live is now a pornographic equipment store."

A legend. RIP.

Review: "The Royal Family"

Although it's just closed, I thought I was would post a short review of the Manhattan Theater Club's delightful recent production of "The Royal Family." I saw it late last week anda it was a great deal of fun.

Set in the 1920s, it centers on a famous acting family called the Cavendishes who are not-too-loosely-based on the Barrymore clan (John, Ethel, Lionel, Diana -- and Drew) who were famous for their drinking, carousing, and brilliant acting. There really isn't one plot but several concentrating on the matriarch of the family (played by the amazing Rosemary Harris) whose daughter has become a great actress (the hilarious Jan Maxwell) and whose granddaughter is struggling between wanting to be an actress and having a normal life. Into the mix are their creepy friends (humanized by the funny John Glover and Ana Gasteyer) and their overly loyal lawyer played by the wonderful Tony Roberts. In addition, an insane (literally) son hides out with the family, having escaped Hollywood after having an affair with his director's girlfriend and then punching him out. Hilarity ensues but also does a certain pathos -- the things people sacrifice for art, how love and ambition collide, how one can never escape one's family no matter how hard one tries.

You might call "The Royal Family" classic American theater at its finest. The play was originally produced in 1928 and was written by the legendary George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Kaufman wrote many plays and would go on, in 1936, to co-write (and win a Pulitzer Prize for) "You Can't Take It With You" with Moss Hart. Ferber is most famous for writing novels including Giant. In this production the performances were first-rate the set -- the living room of a duplex apartment in the East 50's -- was absolutely stunning. Although it has now closed, I greatly enjoyed "The Royal Family" and am glad I was able to see this rarely seen classic.