Robert LuPone obit

 

Bob LuPone, Actor Who Helped Found and Lead Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater, Dies at 76

The brother of Patti LuPone earned a Tony nomination in the original run of 'A Chorus Line.'

 He was not on the list.

Bob LuPone, who as an actor earned a Tony nomination in the original run of A Chorus Line and went on to help found and lead the influential off-Broadway theater company MCC Theater for almost 40 years, has died. He was 76.

LuPone, brother of Broadway icon Patti LuPone, died Saturday following a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to Matt Ross Public Relations.

“The MCC Theater community mourns the loss of our much loved and uniquely inspiring partner, colleague and dear friend, Bob LuPone, who lived fearlessly and with great curiosity, good humor, a boundless passion for connection, and a whole lot of heart. We will miss him deeply and always,” the theater company said in a statement.

LuPone’s first professional job was in 1966, in the ensemble of the Westbury Music Fair’s production of The Pajama Game starring Liza Minnelli. He made his Broadway debut in the 1968 production of Noel Coward’s Sweet Potato and later appeared in Minnie’s Boys, The Rothschilds and The Magic Show.

LuPone was initially cast as Al in A Chorus Line, but convinced creator and director Michael Bennett to let him play Zach after the original actor left. LuPone would earn a best featured actor Tony nomination for the role.

Born in 1946 in Brooklyn, New York, LuPone graduated from The Juilliard School with a bachelor’s degree in dance in 1968.

He was teaching an acting class at New York University when one of his students was Bernie Telsey.

Together they would help form Manhattan Class Company in 1986 — known today as MCC Theater.

LuPone, Telsey along with third co-artistic director Will Cantler shaped MCC into a theatrical powerhouse, producing such Broadway-bound works as Frozen, Reasons to be Pretty, Hand to God, School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play, The Snow Geese, The Other Place and the Pulitzer Prize- winning Wit.

While serving as co-artistic director of MCC, LuPone also worked as an actor, appearing in A View from the Bridge, True West and A Thousand Clowns, all on Broadway. He was in the Chicago premiere of Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime and on TV was in The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Guiding Light and All My Children, for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination.

He also served as director of the MFA drama program at the New School for Drama from 2005 through 2011 and served as president of the board of directors of A.R.T/ New York.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1970      Song of Norway                Dancer Uncredited

1973      Jesus Christ Superstar    James the Apostle           

1989      High Stakes         John Stratton    

1991      The Doors            Music Manager

1995      A Modern Affair                Ben       

1995      Palookaville        Ralph    

1995      Dead Presidents               Attorney Salvatore Rizzo              

2002      Heartbreak Hospital        Hal        

2004      The Door in the Floor      Mendelssohn   

2004      Indocumentados              Priest    

2005      Come Away with Me       Fred      

2006      Mentor                 Franklin Burier  

2007      Then She Found Me        Ted       

2007      Funny Games     Robert

2009      Breaking Point   Frank Donnelly

2013      Isn't It Delicious                Sam Spenser     

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1976      Rich Man, Poor Man Book II         Dick Barnaby      Episode: "Chapter IX"

1977      The Feather and Father Gang      Choreographer Episode: "Flight to Mexico"

1979–1980          Ryan's Hope       Chester Wallace                9 episodes

1983      Search for Tomorrow      Tom Bergman #5              77 episodes

1984–1985          All My Children Zach Grayson     4 episodes

1985–1986          Another World Neal Cory             7 episodes

1987      CBS Summer Playhouse Jeffery Sinclair   Episode: "The Saint in Manhattan"

1990      Guiding Light      Leo Flynn             4 episodes

1990, 1994, 1999, 2002 Law & Order       Kurtz / Marc Bransom / Mark Branson / Bill Wendyll

1991–1994          Loving   Leonard Brill / Charley Nichols    24 episodes

1994      Ghostwriter        David Keeler       Episode: "Don't Stop the Music: Part 4"

1995      Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story               André Previn      Television film

1996      Swift Justice       Alan Kaufman    Episode: "Out on a Limb"

1999–2006          The Sopranos     Dr. Bruce Cusamano       6 episodes

2000      Sex and the City                Len Schnieder    Episode: "The Big Time"

2000      JAG        Mel Hayden        Episode: "JAG TV"

2000      American Tragedy            Robert Kardashian           Television film

2001      Ally McBeal         Attorney Bjork   Episode: "The Getaway"

2002      Crossing Jordan                 DA Curt Schneider           2 episodes

2003, 2009          Law & Order: Criminal Intent      Nelson Broome

2004, 2013, 2019             Law & Order: Special Victims Unit             Paretto / Gabriel Gorromini / Brooks Harmon      3 episodes

2005      Stella     Bob Feldman      Episode: "Campaign"

2006      Conviction           Acting Teacher Episode: "The Wall"

2009      Royal Pains         Dr. Silver              Episode: "Pilot"

2010      Gravity Jim Rosenblum Episode: "Old People Creep Me Out"

2011      A Gifted Man     Dr. Arnold Soltman          Episode: "Pilot"

2011      Gossip Girl           Dr. Krueger         Episode: "Rhodes to Perdition"

2012      Smash   Jerry's Attorney                Episode: "Pilot"

2014      The Affair            Dennis 2 episodes

2016      Billions Skip Wolkowska                Episode: "Pilot"

2016      Odd Mom Out   Timberly Crisp   Episode: "Knock of Shame"