The Nightmare Before Christmas star Ken Page, who enjoyed a glittering career on Broadway, has died at the age of 70.
His friend, television producer Dorian Hannaway, announced his death on Monday, but did not reveal the cause of death.
“Ken Page is through to the next show. My heart is broken,” she wrote on her Facebook page, prompting a flood of sad comments.
Page was a mainstay of the New York stage, playing major roles in the original Broadway productions of hit musicals such as Cats and The Wiz.
He won a new generation of fans in the 1990s as the voice of Oogie Boogie, the villain of Tim Burton’s animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas star Ken Page, who enjoyed a glittering career on Broadway, has died at the age of 70; pictured in April
Page was born in 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, where he developed an interest in art as a child, listening to Barbra Streisand and reading the novel To Sir, With Love.
According to him, he was always fascinated by the theater and wrote and directed musicals when he was in high school St Louis magazine.
After studying theater in college on a full scholarship, he left for New York City in the mid-1970s to make his mark on the stage.
Just two years after arriving in New York, he made his Broadway debut in the all-black 1976 revival of the beloved 1950s musical Guys And Dolls.
Page had a plum character, playing a gambler who leads a prayer meeting with the barnstorming gospel song Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat.
His turn in Guys And Dolls landed him on Broadway and one of the biggest roles of his career: the Cowardly Lion in The Wiz.
Just two years after arriving in New York, he made his Broadway debut in the all-black 1976 revival of Guys And Dolls; he is pictured (right) in the show with Christophe Pierre (left)
