Dick Latessa, American actor, Died at 87

  Actor

Richard Robert “Dick” Latessa was born on September 15, 1929, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died on December 19, 2016.

He was a Tony Award-winning American stage, film, and television actor.

He had served in the Army in the early 1950s, he began performing in Cleveland before moving to New York in 1959 to pursue acting professionally.

Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968.

Latessa’s subsequent theatre credits include Follies, Rags, The Cherry Orchard, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Awake and Sing!, Cabaret, The Will Rogers Follies and Hairspray, for which he won both the Tony- and Drama Desk awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

During 2012, Latessa appeared opposite Linda Lavin in the Nicky Silver drama, The Lyons.

He was featured in several Neil Simon plays, including Chapter Two, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound, Rumors and Proposals.

Latessa was featured in the 2010 revival of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David musical, Promises, Promises as Dr. Dreyfuss.

His screen credits include The Substance of Fire, Alfie, and Stigmata.

Dick Latessa appeared in numerous television movies, including Izzy and Moe, The Trial of Bernhard Goetz, and Pudd’nhead Wilson, and such primetime series as Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Ironside, Spenser: For Hire, The Sopranos, Ed and Law & Order.

Dick Latessa passed away at 87 years old.