Edmund Lyndeck obit

 Edmund Lyndeck, Original Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Dies

Edmund Lyndeck, who originated the role of the evil Judge Turpin in Stephen Sondheim’s operatic tale of revenge, Sweeney Todd, died Dec. 14. He was 90. The cause of death was not immediately known.

He was not on the list.

Mr. Lyndeck was a college English professor who had acted in regional and stock theatre for more than a decade when he gave a remarkable performance in 1979 in the daring, musical "penny dreadful" Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. With black humor and genuine chills, the show told the story of a Victorian barber who methodically gets his revenge on the officials who shipped him off to jail on trumped-up charges. Chief among these is the nefarious Judge Turpin, who raped Todd’s wife and then took his daughter, Johanna, as a ward. Years later, Turpin is now planning to wed Johanna.

Mr. Lyndeck played the part with an oily self-importance and malevolence and lent his rich baritone to the songs "Pretty Women" (a melodic duet with Todd) and the disturbing "Johanna (Mea Culpa)," in which the Judge tried to control his wicked urges by whipping himself. The latter song was cut from the original production, but heard on the cast recording.

Sweeney Todd was not his Broadway debut. He was the gentle Rev. John Witherspoon, a Congressional delegate, in the original 1969 production of 1776. Later in the run, he took on the roles of Stephen Hopkins and Dr. Lyman Hall. In the national tour of the show, he played the meaty role of John Dickinson.

He also acted in a 1976 Broadway revival of Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Piaf...A Remembrance; the musical A Doll’s Life, based on characters in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; the short-lived musical Merlin; the musical Grand Hotel; and the play Artist Descending a Staircase.

Sondheim used him again in the small role of Cinderella’s Father in the fairy-tale musical Into the Woods. He later assumed the larger role of the Narrator and Mysterious Man. Edmund Lyndeck was born Oct. 4, 1925, in Bayonne, NJ.

Regionally, he was most active in Pennsylvania. He played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera every year from 1992 to 2007.

Acting credits

Theatre

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1943    Ziegfeld Follies           Ben Yost's Vi-King    

1963    Around the World in 80 Days M. Gasse / Maharajah of Panjipur / Silk Hat Harry  

1969-1972       1776    Rev. John Witherspoon

u/s Charles Thomson

u/s Dr. Lyman Hall

u/s Stephen Hopkins

u/s Thomas Jefferson

 

Broadway

Stephen Hopkins

Dr. Lyman Hall

Stephen Hopkins

u/s Charles Thomson

 

1972    The King and I            The Kralahome          

1976    Mrs. Warren's Profession        u/s Mr. Praed   Broadway

1776    John Dickinson           Tour

1977    Piaf...A Remembrance            Louis Leplee  

1979    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street    Judge Turpin   Broadway

1980-1981       National Tour

1982    A Doll's Life    Eric      Broadway

Los Angeles

1983    Merlin  The Wizard      Broadway

Oliver! Fagin   Regional

1985    Carousel          Dr. Seldon

My Fair Lady  Colonel Hugh Pickering

1987-1989       Into the Woods            Cinderella's Father

s/b The Narrator / The Mysterious Man

 

Broadway

The Mysterious Man / Cinderella's Father

s/b The Narrator

 

1989    Artist Descending A Staircase u/s Beauchamp

u/s Martello

u/s Donner     

1990    Jekyll & Hyde Sir Danvers Carew      Premiere

1991    Grand Hotel    Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag  Broadway

1992-2007       A Musical Christmas Carol     Ebeneezer Scrooge     Annual Regional Musical

1993    Grand Hotel    Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag  Regional

1994    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street    Judge Turpin

1995    The Secret Garden      Ben Weatherstaff

1996    1776    Stephen Hopkins

1997    Into the Woods            Cinderella's Father      10th Anniversary Concert

Broadway

 

1999    Grand Hotel    Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag  Regional

2003    My Fair Lady  Colonel Hugh Pickering

2004    1776    Stephen Hopkins

2005    Carousel          Starkeeper / Dr. Seldon

Film

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1982    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street    Judge Turpin   TV movie Musical

1999    Big Daddy       Mr. Herlihy    

2000    Road Trip        Barry's Grandpa         

2005    The Notorious Bettie Page      Father Egan    

2006    The Ex Mr. Hordhaus 

2007    Enchanted       Derelict Old Man       

2008    You Don't Mess with the Zohan         Pharmacist      

2009    The Good Heart          Barber

2009    Splinterheads   Albert 

2010    Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps       Patient

2013    The Big Wedding        Elderly Husband        

Television

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1970-73           The Doctors    Dr. Carl Hendryx        69 episodes (uncredited and credit only)

1990    The Cosby Show        Mr. Bingham   Episode: What It's All About

1991    American Playhouse   Cinderella's Father      Episode: Into the Woods

2000    Ed        Charlie Hudson/Molly's Grandfather  2 episodes

2001    Law & Order   Howard Eastman         Episode: Armed Forces

2004    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit   Mr. Zelman     Episode: Bound

2005    Third Watch    Priest   Episode: How Do You Spell Belief?

2011    The Onion News Network      Old Gilgoff      Episode: Enter the Factzone