Gavin Creel, the Broadway actor who won a Tony Award for his performance in “Hello, Dolly!”, died on Monday. He was 48.
Creel died at his home in Manhattan from metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcomaa rare and aggressive form of cancer he was diagnosed with in July, according to his publicist Matt Polk.
In addition to his highly acclaimed performance in “Hello, Dolly!”, Creel was nominated for Tonys in 2002 and 2009 for their work in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Hair” respectively.
Creel too won a Laurence Olivier Awardthe highest award in British theatre, for his performance in ‘The Book of Mormon’ in London 2014.
“Today we mourn the devastating loss of Tony Award winner Gavin Creel, whose extraordinary talent, kindness and passion lit up the stage and our hearts,” wrote the official Tony Awards Twitter account.
Gavin Creel (center, in yellow coat) performs in “Into The Woods” on Broadway in 2022. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)
Born April 18, 1978, in Findlay, OhioCreel fell in love with theater and musicals in high school and graduated from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance in 1998.
Creel made his Broadway debut as Jimmy Smith in 2002 stage adaptation of Thoroughly Modern Millie. His breakthrough performance earned him a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.
In the following years, Creel found consistent work on and off Broadway, including as Jean-Michel in the 2004 revival of “La Cage aux Folles.” His performance in 2009 revival of “Hair” earned him another Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.
In 2014, his work on “The Book of Mormon” took him to London’s West End, where he wowed audiences as Elder Price and won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
After the two previous nominations, Creel finally secured one Tony Awards 2017 for playing Cornelius Hackl in “Hello, Dolly!”, and took home the award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Later in his career, Creel also branched out into television, appearing in two episodes of “American Horror Stories” in 2021.
“I love being able to play a gay man. I want to tell more gay stories,” he told Theaterly at the time. “I’m so excited to have been an interesting, weird and complex gay character, and it’s not just the usual stereotypes.”
With News Wire Services