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NEW YORK (AP) — Bob LuPone earned a Tony nomination as an actor on his initial performance of “Chorus,” and went on to help found and lead the influential off-Broadway theater company MCC Theater Nearly 40 years, dead. He is 76 years old.
Lupen, the brother of Broadway icon Patty Lupen, died Saturday after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to Matt Ross Public Relations.
“The MCC theatre community is grieving the loss of our much-loved and uniquely inspiring partner, colleague and dear friend Bob LuPone, who lived fearlessly, full of curiosity, humor, unbridled passion for connection and A man with all his heart. We will always miss him dearly,” the theater company said in a statement.
LuPone’s first professional job was in 1966 with “The Pajama Game” at the Westbury Music Fair 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 originally played Al on “A Chorus Line,” but persuaded creator-director Michael Bennett to let him play Zach after the original cast left. LuPone will be nominated for Best Actor Tony for the role.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, LuPone graduated from the Juilliard School with a BA in Dance in 1968.
He was teaching acting classes at NYU when one of his students was Bernie Tursey. Together, in 1986, they helped form the Manhattan-class corporation—today known as the MCC Theater.
LuPone, Telsey and third co-art director Will Cantler shape MCC into a theatrical powerhouse, producing Broadway productions such as Frozen, A Beautiful Reason, Hand to God, Schoolgirl and more ; or the African Mean Girls Drama,” “Snow Goose,” “Another Place,” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Wit.”
While serving as MCC’s co-artistic director, LuPone has also acted as an actor in Broadway’s “Landscape from the Bridge,” “The Real West,” and “A Thousand Clowns.” He attended the Chicago premiere of Sam Shepard’s “Criminal Fang” and appeared on TV in “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Guiding Light” and “All My Children,” and has Hence the daytime Emmy nomination.
He also served as Director of the New School of Drama’s MFA Theatre Program from 2005 to 2011, and served as Chairman of the ART/New York Board of Directors.
LuPone’s wife, Virginia, survives. His son Orlando; sister, Patty; and brother William.
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Mark Kennedy in http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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