Roderick Cook

Roderick Cook (9 February 1932 – 17 August 1990) was an English actor, playwright, theatre director, and writer whose career spanned stage, television, and film across both Britain and the United States. Born in London, he is best known for devising, directing, and starring in the musical revue Oh, Coward! and for portraying Count Von Strack in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus.

Cook pursued his education at Queens' College, Cambridge, completing his studies there in 1953. His professional stage debut came the following year, when he played Feste in a production of Twelfth Night directed by Peter Hall. That same year, Hall directed him again in the English-language premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot at the Arts Theatre in London. Also in 1954, Cook appeared alongside Maggie Smith in the original production of Listen to the Wind at the Oxford Playhouse, a collaboration he reprised with Smith in the original 1957 production of Share My Lettuce at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. In 1956, still under Hall's direction, he played Gaston opposite Hugh Griffith and Beatrix Lehmann in the English-language premiere of The Waltz of the Toreadors at the Arts Theatre. The following year he appeared in the musical Zuleika at the Saville Theatre. His first film credit came in the 1959 British production Idle on Parade, and he made his television debut shortly afterward as a guest on the series Jango, followed by appearances on No Hiding Place.

Cook emigrated to the United States in the early 1960s and made his Broadway debut as Lord Neville in the 1961 musical Kean. He returned to Broadway in 1963 to play Peter Northbrook in Noël Coward's musical The Girl Who Came to Supper, then took on the role of Edward in the 1964 play Roar Like a Dove. Beginning in February 1965, he contributed book reviews and poetry to Harper's Magazine, producing nineteen entries over roughly two years, with his final contribution appearing in the November 1967 issue. In 1969, he stepped into the role of Fr. William Rolfe in Hadrian the Seventh on Broadway, replacing Alec McCowen, and that same year portrayed Scrivens in the original cast of James Saunders' A Scent of Flowers at the Martinique Theatre.

Throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Cook made periodic appearances on American television, including the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1967, One Life to Live in 1968, and Lotsa Luck in 1973. His film work during the decade included Our Time (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), and Girlfriends (1978). While he remained active off-Broadway and in regional theatre during the 1970s, he did not appear in a Broadway production throughout the entire decade. His stage credits in this period included Ernest in Design for Living opposite Maggie Smith at the Ahmanson Theatre and Lincoln Center in 1971, and the Devil in Don Juan in Hell at the Alley Theatre in 1979. He also worked as a director, helming Peter O'Toole in both Present Laughter and Uncle Vanya in 1978.

The defining achievement of Cook's career was Oh, Coward!, a musical revue he devised based on the life and works of Noël Coward. The production premiered off-Broadway on 4 October 1972, running for 294 performances, and was among the last Coward productions staged during the playwright's own lifetime. Cook both directed and starred in the show, which subsequently toured extensively across the United States and Britain, with stops in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, among other cities. In 1980, Cook devised a further musical revue, Special Delivery, built around the works of William Roy, which premiered at the Oakland West Dinner Theatre in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.

Cook's return to Broadway in 1980 came with the revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner, in which he portrayed Beverly Carlton. The performance earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. The following year, he joined the original Broadway cast of Woman of the Year, playing the role of Gerald, a part he held for two years. In 1982, he directed Tom Ziegler's The Ninth Step at the Riverwest Theatre in New York City. His Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical arrived in 1987 for his performance in the original Broadway cast production of Oh, Coward!, which he also directed.

His film work in the 1980s included the role of Count Von Strack in Amadeus (1984) and Von Klammer in Garbo Talks (1984), alongside credits in Silent Madness (1984), 9½ Weeks (1986), Spellbinder (1988), and A More Perfect Union (1989). Television appearances during the same period encompassed One Life to Live (1983), All My Children (1985), Newhart (1988), Sledge Hammer! (1988), MacGyver (1988), Tattingers (1989), and Tales from the Crypt, which aired posthumously in 1992. Cook died of a heart attack on 17 August 1990 in Los Angeles.