Tony Roberts, Woody Allen Sidekick and Broadway Stalwart, Dies at 85

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Actor Tony Roberts, who was well-known for his work alongside Woody Allen in six movies, among them the Academy Award-winning Best Picture “Annie Hall,” as well as two Broadway productions, has passed away at the age of 85.

Tony Roberts, who worked often with Woody Allen on films and plays, including the famous movie “Annie Hall” and some Broadway shows, has died at the age of 85.

On a sad note, Robert passed away last Friday due to issues stemming from his lung cancer, as confirmed by his daughter, Nicole Burley, to The New York Times.

From 1961’s “Take Her, She’s Mine” to 2009’s “The Royal Family,” Roberts graced Broadway a total of 23 times. In between these productions, he temporarily replaced Robert Redford in the initial staging of Neil Simon’s play, “Barefoot in the Park,” which was directed by Mike Nichols.

In the popular 1969-70 Broadway production titled “Play It Again, Sam,” written and performed by Allen, Roberts played the character of Dick Christie. This character was married to a woman who had an affair with their mutual friend, Allan Felix, who was a magazine writer (portrayed by Allen himself).

After bagging a Best Actor Tony nod for my stellar performance, I teamed up with Allen once more to recreate our roles in the 1972 Paramount film adaptation, expertly guided by director Herbert Ross.

In many films, the robust, curly-haired Roberts frequently took on confident roles opposite the slim, anxious Allen, like in “Annie Hall” (1977), where he portrayed a successful screenwriter-producer who found himself frustrated by Allen’s intellectual snobbery towards television and California.

In addition to directing her, the filmmaker also chose Roberts for roles in movies such as “Stardust Memories” (1980), “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy” (1982), “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), and “Radio Days” (1987).

They initially crossed paths in 1966 during a series of auditions for Allen’s play “Don’t Drink the Water”. Interestingly enough, Roberts attempted this audition on no less than four separate occasions.

In a 2014 interview, he mentioned that David Merrick wished for him to play the third lead, but Woody preferred someone else instead. As a result, he persisted and eventually, Merrick asked Woody to watch me perform in “Barefoot in the Park” as Paul. I was in the production for 18 months.

One evening following the performance, Woody, along with his wife Louise Lasser, entered my dressing room and commented, ‘You were fantastic! Why are you so poor at auditions?’ I’m still unsure about that. However, I landed the role in Don’t Drink the Water.

Roberts stated that he only managed to converse briefly (just two sentences or so) with Allen during their work on “Don’t Drink the Water“, a production that spanned 19 months and close to 600 performances. However, they grew closer during their collaboration on “Play It Again, Sam“.

In “The New York Times,” Christopher Isherwood, the renowned novelist, penned that Allen crafted Roberts’ characters to embody refined charisma as a stark contrast to his own unfortunate lack of vigor.

David Anthony Roberts, born on October 22, 1939, in New York City, spent his childhood years living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Milton’s father, Ken Roberts, was a radio host on daytime dramas, game shows, and ‘The Shadow’, where Orson Welles played the lead role; meanwhile, his mother, Norma, worked as an assistant for Betty Boop and Popeye cartoonist Ken Fleischer. Milton Berle, their high school classmate, dated his mom.

Roberts made it clear from a young age that his dream was to become an actor. He shared with Bill Boggs in 2016 how his father would bring him to the recording studio at ages seven, eight, and ten, where they would sit in a room observing adults in business attire playing roles as cops, robbers, astronauts, politicians.

In the presence of a small metal object mounted on a stand, they performed with an intensity that mirrored their deep involvement in their narrative. They seemed to regress into childlike behavior, which made the performance incredibly captivating and touching.

Despite Roberts’ intentions to follow his chosen profession, his father expressed disapproval, and this was further reinforced by his cousin Everett Sloane and his father’s close friend Paul Stewart – both actors associated with Orson Welles’ Mercury Players company in the film “Citizen Kane”. They all tried to discourage him from pursuing that path.

Despite facing challenges, Roberts persisted and went on to study at The High School of Music & Art in Manhattan, followed by Northwestern University, where he focused his studies on speech and theater.

Roberts Fuller, his college sweetheart, joined him in New York after their studies, and in 1962, he secured a role as a replacement in the Broadway comedy “Take Her, She’s Mine,” which was produced by Harold Prince, directed by George Abbott, and featured Art Carney.

In the play “Barefoot in the Park,” Fuller stepped into Elizabeth Ashley’s role. When Redford planned a brief two-week break, Fuller arranged for Roberts to audition as a standby for Redford’s understudy.

Initially, Roberts got employed. However, when the backup actor sustained an unexpected injury while playing softball, Roberts found himself suddenly called into action. He would often joke, “His misfortune became my opportunity.” Later on, Robert Reed was hired to permanently replace Redford, but he only stayed for roughly three months. Eventually, Roberts stepped in and continued in his role long-term.

Merrick was an ardent admirer of Roberts, and he had the opportunity to work with him not just in films like “Don’t Drink the Water” and “Play It Again, Sam”, but also on Broadway. He appeared in the musical “How Now, Dow Jones?” where he earned his first Tony nomination. Later, he took over Jerry Orbach’s role in “Promises, Promises”. Additionally, he starred in the musical adaptation of “Some Like It Hot”, titled “Sugar”, which necessitated him to don women’s attire and lipstick.

Roberts’ work on Broadway encompassed various productions, such as “The Last Analysis”, “They’re Playing Our Song” in the role of Robert Klein’s understudy, “Absurd Person Singular”, “Victor/Victoria” alongside Julie Andrews, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife”, “The Sisters Rosensweig”, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, and “Cabaret”.

In addition to these, Roberts made appearances as a police officer in the movie ‘Serpico’ (1973), set in New York City, and as an advisor to the mayor in the film ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ (1974), which also took place in the city.

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Roberts was part of two notable 1970s films that were set in New York City: he played a police officer in ‘Serpico’ (1973) and an advisor to the mayor in ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ (1974).

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Roberts starred in two 1970s films that were based in New York City. In these, he portrayed a police officer in ‘Serpico’ (1973) and an advisor to the mayor in ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ (1974).

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Roberts appeared in two films from the 1970s that were set in New York City. In these, he took on roles as a police officer in ‘Serpico’ (1973) and as an advisor to the mayor in ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ (1974).

During the filming of “Annie Hall,” Roberts found out that he had been robbed upon returning to his trailer on Columbus Avenue, as he recounted in a 2016 interview.

When Woody learned of it, he asked, ‘Did they receive the screenplay?’ I replied, ‘Why should we care, you’ve got countless ones piled up.’ A week later, they discovered it in a dumpster a mile away. It was amusing to inform him that the thieves thought the screenplay was trash and had discarded it.

His filmography encompasses titles such as “The Million Dollar Duck” (1971), “Le Sauvage” (1975), “Just Tell Me What You Want” (1980), “Key Exchange” (1985), Blake Edwards’ “Switch” (1991), and “My Best Friend’s Wife” (2001).

Roberts found himself at the center of three television shows: portraying a lawyer on NBC’s “Rosetti and Ryan”, leading a radio psychologist (Lucie Arnaz) in CBS’ “The Lucie Arnaz Show”, and being one of the husbands in a CBS adaptation of “The Four Seasons”. Regrettably, none of these shows managed to last long. Way back in his career, he worked alongside Larry Hagman on the CBS soap opera “The Edge of Night”.

Over the past twenty years or so, he’s played the role of Detective Stone Barrington in a succession of audiobooks written by Stuart Woods.

In 2015, I self-published my memoir titled “Do You Know Me?”. After sharing it with various book editors, I was informed that they’d be interested in handling it only if I incorporated details from Allen’s personal life into the narrative.

In a 2014 interview, Roberts was asked if his continuous collaboration with the director was more a matter of “opposites attracting,” or if perhaps there was an underlying desire in Allen to be like him. Roberts chuckled at this point.

He mentioned that there have been instances where he envied being in his shoes. He admires his talent, intelligence, and insight, which are truly remarkable. He seems to know so much about various topics like music, art, history, politics, and more. He’s always well-informed and it’s a joy to be around him. However, I wouldn’t want his deeper emotional issues, and I don’t believe he’d want mine. That’s what he meant.

Duane Byrge contributed to this report.

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2025-02-08 02:55