Dick Latessa

Richard Robert Latessa was born on September 15, 1929, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his performing career before relocating to New York City in 1959 to pursue acting professionally. He went on to work across stage, film, and television over a career spanning more than five decades, earning recognition as one of Broadway's reliable character performers. He died on December 19, 2016, of heart failure in New York City at the age of 87.

Latessa made his Broadway debut in 1968 in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, launching a stage career that would extend through 2012. His Broadway credits encompassed a wide range of productions, including Follies, Rags, The Cherry Orchard, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Awake and Sing!, Cabaret, and The Will Rogers Follies. He appeared in several Neil Simon works over the years, among them Chapter Two, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound, Rumors, and Proposals. In 2010, he was featured in the revival of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David musical Promises, Promises, playing the role of Dr. Dreyfuss. His final Broadway appearance came in 2012, when he appeared opposite Linda Lavin in Nicky Silver's drama The Lyons.

The role that brought Latessa his greatest recognition was in the musical Hairspray, for which he received both the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, both in 2003. He also appeared on Broadway in Damn Yankees, rounding out a career that touched nearly every corner of the American musical and dramatic repertoire.

Beyond the stage, Latessa accumulated substantial screen credits. His film appearances include The Substance of Fire, Alfie, and Stigmata. On television, he appeared in the primetime series Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Ironside, Spenser: For Hire, The Sopranos, Ed, and Law & Order, as well as television movies including Izzy and Moe, The Trial of Bernhard Goetz, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. He is also recognized for his work in daytime television, most notably as the second actor to portray Noel Douglas on The Edge of Night and later as Neil Hayes on One Life to Live.