ARTNEWSPRESS: Richard Easton, a Canadian actor whose two dozen Broadway credits included a Tony-winning turn in an original work by Tom Stoppard, died on December 2 at his home in New York City, according to his agent, Gary Gersh. The cause of death is currently unknown. Easton was 86.
Easton began his Broadway career with turns in a pair of Shakespeare classics: Measure for Measure (1957) and The Taming of the Shrew (1957). He continued working steadily on the Rialto with credits including The Duchess of Malfi (1957), Back to Methuselah (1958), The School for Scandal (1963), Pantagleize (1967), Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1969) and Murderous Angels (1971).
He took a three-decade break from Broadway to appear in a number of TV series. Most notably, he played Brian Hammond on The Brothers (1972-1976), taking on later TV gigs on Chintz (1981) and Doctor Who (1982). Easton shared his stage cred with TV viewers in small-screen adaptations of As You Like It (1978) and An Enemy of the People (1990).
Easton’s eventual return to Broadway brought him acclaim and a Tony Award for his turn as “A.E. Houseman, aged 77” in Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love (2001). Easton would later appear in Stoppard’s three-part epic The Coast of Utopia (2006), in the roles of Alexander Bakunin, Leonty Ibayev and Count Stanislaw Worcell.
Off-Broadway, Easton was seen in Waste (2000), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (2003), Bach at Leipzig (2005) and New Jerusalem (2008). He earned an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for his turn as Kemp in a revival of Entertaining Mr. Sloane (2006).
Easton’s final appearances both off and on Broadway were as Duncan in separate productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in 2012 and 2014.
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Andy Lefkowitz
