Chuck Cooper (actor)

Last updated

Chuck Cooper
Born (1954-11-08) November 8, 1954 (age 69)
OccupationActor
Spouse
(m. 2009)
Children3, including Lilli Cooper
Awards Tony Award (1997), Antonyo Lifetime Achievement Award (2020)
Website chuckcooper.net

Chuck Cooper (born November 8, 1954) is an American actor. He won the 1997 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as the pimp Memphis in The Life .

Contents

Career

Cooper made his Broadway debut in 1983 in the musical Amen Corner , playing the role of Brother Boxer. [1] [2] He was an understudy in the original Broadway casts of his next three shows: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (he eventually took over the role of Adam), Passion , and Getting Away with Murder.

Cooper won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as the pimp Memphis in the 1997 Broadway production of the musical The Life .

Cooper has also appeared in Chicago as Billy Flynn, Caroline, or Change in the dual role of The Bus and The Dryer, and Finian's Rainbow as Bill Rawkins, as well as benefit performances of Hair and A Wonderful Life . In February 2010 he was the narrator in the U.S. premiere of Seven Scenes from Hamlet, by the Spanish composer Benet Casablancas, at the Miller Theatre in Manhattan. [3]

In 2015, Cooper appeared on Broadway as the slave Thomas in the new musical Amazing Grace, at the Nederlander Theatre. [4] The musical is about John Newton, the redeemed slave-trader who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". In 2021, he returned for the Broadway debut production of Alice Childress's 1955 play Trouble in Mind, at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. [5] For this performance, he has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Personal life

Cooper has three children—Eddie, Alex, and Lilli—from his first marriage. [6] His son Eddie and daughter Lilli have performed on television and on stage. [7] In May 2009, Cooper and playwright Deborah Brevoort were married in Carmel, New York, after almost ten years of dating. [8] Their initial meeting and eventual engagement were covered in a New York Times website video. [9]

Stage credits

YearTitleRoleLocationNotes
1982Colored People's TimeBert / Abner / Blind John / Isaac Cherry Lane Theatre Off-Broadway
1983 Amen Corner Brother Boxer Nederlander Theatre Broadway
1985-1986 The Tap Dance Kid William-US National Tour
1988-1989 Rumors Welch Broadhurst Theatre Broadway
1989-1990 Ethel Barrymore Theatre
1991Four Short Operas, BreakMan 1 / Man in Dirty Dungeons / Cabbie / Man Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway
1993 Someone Who'll Watch Over Me Adam Booth Theatre Broadway
1994-1995 Passion u/s Private Augenti / u/s Fosca's Father / u/s Lieutenant Barri / u/s Major Rizzolli / u/s Lieutenant Torasso Plymouth Theatre
1995Police BoysCapt. Jabali Abdul LaRouche Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway
1996-1997 Whistle Down the Wind Ed / Ensemble National Theatre Washington, D.C.
1997-1998 The Life Memphis Ethel Barrymore Theatre Broadway
1999 Caroline, or Change Dryer / Bus The Public Theater Off-Broadway
2001 Chicago Billy Flynn Shubert Theatre Broadway
2003-2004 Caroline, or Change Dryer / Bus The Public Theater Off-Broadway
2004 Eugene O'Neill Theatre Broadway
2005 A Wonderful Life Uncle Billy Shubert Theatre Broadway Concert
2007 Two Trains Running Memphis Old Globe Theatre Regional
2008 Hamlet Polonius Shakespeare Theatre Company
2009-2010 Finian's Rainbow Bill Rawkins St. James Theatre Broadway
2011 Lost in the Stars Stephen Kumalo New York City Center Off-Broadway
Encores!
2013 The Piano Lesson Wining Boy Signature Theatre Company Regional
Romeo and Juliet Capulet Richard Rodgers Theatre Broadway
2014 Act One Wally / Charles Gilpin / Max Siegel / Langston Hughes Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Amazing Grace Thomas / Paketuh Bank of America Theatre Regional
2015Thomas / Keita Nederlander Theatre Broadway
2016 West Side Story Doc / Krupke Carnegie Hall Concert
The Cherry Orchard Pischik American Airlines Theatre Broadway
2017 Prince of Broadway Performer Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2018 Me and My Girl Sir John Tremayne New York City Center Off-Broadway
Encores!
2018-2019 Choir Boy Headmaster Marrow Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Broadway
2019 Much Ado About Nothing Leonato The Public Theater Off-Broadway
Road Show Papa Mizner New York City Center Off-Broadway
Encores!
Let 'Em Eat Cake Matthew Fulton Carnegie Hall Concert
2020 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Jacob David Geffen Hall 50th Anniversary Concert
2021-2022 Trouble in Mind Sheldon Forrester American Airlines Theatre Broadway
2023 The Frogs Charon Lincoln Center Concert
2024 Titanic Captain Edward John Smith New York City Center Off-Broadway
Encores!

Related Research Articles

<i>Kiss Me, Kate</i> Musical by Cole Porter and Bella and Samuel Spewack

Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Fierstein</span> American actor and playwright

Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He is best known for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy and Hairspray and film roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in Mulan and Mulan II. Fierstein won two Tony Awards, Best Actor in a Play and Best Play, for Torch Song Trilogy. He received his third Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical, for the musical La Cage aux Folles and his fourth, the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a role he revived in its live television event, Hairspray Live! Fierstein also wrote the books for the Tony Award-winning musicals Kinky Boots, Newsies, and Tony Award-nominated, Drama League Award-winner A Catered Affair. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Prince</span> American theatre producer and director (1928–2019)

Harold Smith Prince, commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Grey</span> American actor, singer, dancer, director, and photographer (born 1932)

Joel Grey is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway and in Bob Fosse's 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2023.

<i>Promises, Promises</i> (musical) Broadway musical (1968-1972)

Promises, Promises is a musical with music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David and a book by Neil Simon. It is based on the 1960 film The Apartment, written by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. The story concerns a junior executive at an insurance company who seeks to climb the corporate ladder by allowing his apartment to be used by his married superiors for trysts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Morse</span> American actor (1931–2022)

Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Morse, known for his gap-toothed boyishness, started his career as a star on Broadway acting in musicals and plays before expanding into film and television. He earned numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

George Hearn is an American actor and bass-baritone singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Mays</span> American actor

Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.

Tom Hewitt is an American actor and Broadway stage performer, and a native of Victor, Montana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marin Mazzie</span> American actress

Marin Joy Mazzie was an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theatre.

Tammy Blanchard is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as teenage Judy Garland in the critically acclaimed television film Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her other notable film roles were in The Good Shepherd (2006), Sybil (2007), Into the Woods (2014) and The Invitation (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd Gaines</span> American actor

Boyd Payne Gaines is an American actor. During his career, he has won four Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. Gaines is best known for playing Mark Royer on One Day at a Time (1981–1984).

<i>The Life</i> (musical) Musical

The Life is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman.

Scott Wise is an American theatre actor and dancer. He is known for his performances in the 1989 musical Jerome Robbins' Broadway, which earned him a Tony Award, and in the 2002 film Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">64th Tony Awards</span> Award ceremony

The 64th Annual Tony Awards took place on Sunday, June 13, 2010, held again at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The host was Sean Hayes. These awards paid tribute to Broadway productions during the 2009–2010 season. The cut off-date for Tony eligibility was April 29, 2010, and the nominations were announced on May 4.

<i>Million Dollar Quartet</i> (musical) Jukebox musical

Million Dollar Quartet is a jukebox musical with a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. It dramatizes the Million Dollar Quartet recording session of December 4, 1956, among early rock and roll/country stars who recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, which are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, and newcomer Jerry Lee Lewis. The musical opened on Broadway in 2010, after several tryouts and regional productions, and spawned a 2011 West End production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Young</span> American actor (born 1980)

Josh Young is an American actor best known for appearing on Broadway in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar as Judas and Amazing Grace, originating the role of John Newton.

Deborah Brevoort is an American playwright, librettist and lyricist best known for her play The Women of Lockerbie. She teaches Creative Writing at several universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Monroe Iglehart</span> American actor (born 1974)

James Monroe Iglehart is an American actor and comic book writer. He is perhaps best known for his Tony Award-winning performance as the Genie in the original Broadway production of Aladdin. Iglehart assumed the role of Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the Broadway company of Hamilton in April 2017. He recreated the role of King Arthur in the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot. He can be heard as super producer Steve Jones in As The Curtain Rises, Broadway's first original podcast soap opera. More recently, Iglehart joined the cast of the animated webseries Helluva Boss, as both the Demon Lord of Lust Asmodeus/Ozzy and hellhound bodyguard Vortex, and Hazbin Hotel, as Zestial, as well having written for Marvel Comics, primarily one-shots featuring Spider-Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilli Cooper</span> American actress

Lilli Cooper is an American actress and singer.

References

  1. "Chuck Cooper Bio & Resume". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
  2. "Playbill News: Chuck Cooper Appears in Free Opera in Eden Concert Jan. 7". www.playbill.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
  3. "Miller Theatre at Columbia University". July 14, 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011.
  4. Amazing Grace on the Internet Broadway Database
  5. Green, Jesse (November 19, 2021). "Review: 'Trouble in Mind,' 66 Years Late and Still On Time". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  6. "It's an Actor's Life for Broadway Papa Chuck Cooper and His Kids Eddie and Lilli | TheaterMania". www.theatermania.com.
  7. "Eddie Cooper Replaces His Dad Chuck Cooper in Little Shop of Horrors, Starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Ellen Greene". Broadway.com.
  8. "Deborah Brevoort and Chuck Cooper". The New York Times. May 30, 2009.
  9. Monteleone, Michele (May 31, 2009). "Vows: Chuck and Deborah - Video Library - The New York Times". The New York Times .