Stage Actor

"Les Misérables" fans of a certain age may remember Colm Wilkinson, the big-voiced stage actor who originated the role of Jean Valjean in London and later on Broadway.  The producers of the new movie version have given the actor a cameo role as the Bishop of Digne, the priest who takes pity on Valjean. It's a brief role but an important one -- his act of kindness sets Valjean on a different path in life. After playing "Les Misérables" on Broadway, Wilkinson embarked on a career in Canada.

"Les Misérables" fans of a certain age may remember Colm Wilkinson, the big-voiced stage actor who originated the role of Jean Valjean in London and later on Broadway.  The producers of the new movie version have given the actor a cameo role as the Bishop of Digne, the priest who takes pity on Valjean. It's a brief role but an important one -- his act of kindness sets Valjean on a different path in life. After playing "Les Misérables" on Broadway, Wilkinson embarked on a career in Canada.

Bill Quinn, a television, film and stage actor whose career included roles for the Mercury Playhouse radio troupe and in the movie "Star Trek V," died last week in Camarillo. He was 81. Quinn, who had lived in Camarillo for 17 years, was born in Manhattan in 1912. He made his theatrical debut at age 5 as the youngest member of the Quinn Brothers, a vaudeville children's act.

Russell Arms Actor who started on 'Your Hit Parade' Russell Arms, 92, a singer and actor who was a regular vocalist on the popular TV musical program "Your Hit Parade" from 1952 to 1957, died Monday at his home in Hamilton, Ill., where he had retired with his wife, Mary Lynne. The Lamporte-St. Clair Funeral Home in Hamilton confirmed his death but did not give the cause. Along with other regular cast members Gisele MacKenzie, Snooky Lanson and Dorothy Collins, Arms performed what were billed as the seven most popular songs in the country every Saturday night on the NBC show.

Richard Kneeland, 68, a stage actor who for the last seven years had become a fixture in Southern California theater. Kneeland, who appeared frequently at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and with the San Diego Repertory Theatre, won critical praise for such varied roles as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" and the slave Lucky in "Waiting for Godot." He earned a Drama-Log Critics Award as best supporting actor for his performance as Serabryakov in "Uncle Vanya."

David Opatoshu, 78, versatile Emmy Award-winning actor in film, television and stage best remembered for his role in the film "Exodus." A native of New York City, Opatoshu made his Broadway debut in 1938 in the plays "Golden Boy" and "Night Music." His motion picture debut came a year later in the Yiddish film "The Light Ahead," which was revived in 1982 as the first Yiddish production screened at the New York Film Festival.

Moses Gunn, whose redoubtable dramatic presence made him a stage and film favorite for nearly four decades, is dead. Gunn portrayed a series of "excluded" characters--men forced to find an identity outside the system primarily because of their color or socioeconomic condition. He was 64 when he died Thursday night at his home in Guilford, Conn. A spokesman for his publicist, Dale C. Olson & Associates Inc. of Los Angeles, said Gunn died of complications from asthma.

Abraham Sofaer, the dusky-skinned character actor who was seen in roles ranging from prime ministers to Popes in a career that ranged over six decades, died Thursday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital. He was 91 and had lived in the Woodland Hills facility for several years, spokeswoman Jean Ferris said.

Dick Yarmy, a veteran film and stage actor and director whose lengthiest exposure came via the old "George and Marge" TV commercials for Union Oil, died at a Studio City hospital Tuesday after a long struggle with lung cancer. The comic and sportsman was 59. A native of New York City, he was an engineering graduate of New York University who began attending acting classes "to meet girls."

Franklyn Seales, a stage actor acclaimed for his forceful versatility in productions that ranged from Shakespeare to the theater of the absurd, died Monday in Brooklyn. Seales, who came to playhouses from John Houseman's Acting Company at Juilliard in the early 1970s, was 37 and died at the family home of the complications of AIDS. A sister, Deborah Richardson, said by telephone from New York that he had been unable to work regularly for the last several months.

The character Patrick Stewart plays with impish charm on Broadway this fall is, he insists, very familiar: a stage actor who begins to realize, after years of toil in small theaters, that he's never going to make it into the big time. "I've known actors like this, actors who are sad because the breaks never came," Stewart said, sipping a cup of strong tea just steps from the stage door of the Schoenfeld Theatre. "But all of us as actors think: Are we gonna be found out this week?

Violet Weber Fashion editor Violet Weber, 94, fashion editor of the Los Angeles Times' Home magazine from 1964 to 1975, died Feb. 22 at a Los Angeles nursing home from complications of old age, said her niece, Sue Kirschman. Born in 1915 in Sugar Grove, Pa., Weber moved to California during World War II to work in the burgeoning defense industry. Soon she began working as a publicist for MGM studios. Weber's interest in women's fashion led her to The Times' Home magazine, where she was responsible for the publication's extensive fashion stories and photo layouts.

Joseph Wiseman, a stage and screen actor who played the sinister title character in "Dr. No," the 1962 film that introduced Sean Connery as James Bond, has died. He was 91. Wiseman, who had been in declining health in the last few years, died Monday at his home in Manhattan, said his daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman. The Canadian-born Wiseman already had appeared on Broadway numerous times and in films such as "Detective Story" and "Viva Zapata!" when he was cast as the mysterious villain opposite Connery's 007. The diabolical Dr. No was a formidable foe. As Los Angeles Times movie critic Philip K. Scheuer put it: "Out pfui-ing Fu Manchu, Dr. No reveals himself to be the head of a vast underworld organization called SPECTER and dedicated to the destruction and domination of mankind.

Sydney Chaplin, an actor who experienced his greatest success on stage, earning a Tony Award for starring in the late 1950s musical "Bells Are Ringing," died Tuesday. He was 82. Chaplin, the oldest surviving child of film legend Charlie Chaplin, died at his Rancho Mirage home of complications following a stroke, said Jerry Bodie, a longtime friend. He was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and his second wife, Lita Grey, an ingenue who married the movie giant when she was 16 and he was 35.

Steven Gilborn, 72, an actor best known for playing the father of Ellen DeGeneres' character on the 1990s sitcom "Ellen," died of cancer Jan. 2 at his home in North Chatham, N.Y. His television roles included portraying the math teacher on "The Wonder Years" and recurring parts on such series as "The Practice," "Picket Fences" and "L.A. Law." Among his film credits are "Nurse Betty" (2000) and "The Brady Bunch Movie" (1995). Born July 15, 1936, in New Rochelle, N.Y., Gilborn earned a bachelor's degree in English from Swarthmore College in 1958 and a doctorate in dramatic literature from Stanford University in 1969.

Paul Benedict, the actor who played the eccentric English neighbor Harry Bentley on the sitcom "The Jeffersons," was found dead Monday at his home on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. He was 70. Authorities were investigating the cause of death, said his brother, Charles. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features were partly attributed to acromegaly, a pituitary disorder that was first diagnosed by an endocrinologist who saw Benedict in a theatrical production.

Paul Benedict, the actor who played the eccentric English neighbor Harry Bentley on the sitcom "The Jeffersons," was found dead Monday at his home on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. He was 70. Authorities were investigating the cause of death, said his brother, Charles. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features were partly attributed to acromegaly, a pituitary disorder that was first diagnosed by an endocrinologist who saw Benedict in a theatrical production.

Christopher Hewett, the British-born stage actor perhaps best remembered as television's endearing English butler "Mr. Belvedere," has died. He was 80. Hewett, whose career began at age 7 on stage in Ireland, had been in declining health for some time, said his nephew, Paul Hewett. He died Friday at his Los Angeles home a day after being released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Roscoe Lee Browne, the Emmy-award winning actor with the mellifluous baritone that he used to give voice to roles as varied as Shakespeare's plays and the popular animal film "Babe," died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 81. The cause of death was cancer, said publicist Alan Nierob. A classically trained actor with a commanding presence, Browne worked for some of the leading directors in film, including Alfred Hitchcock in "Topaz" and Jules Dassin in "Up Tight!"