Tony Roberts, Stage and Screen Actor Known for Woody Allen Films, Dead at 85

Tony Roberts, the stage and screen actor best known for his supporting roles in six Woody Allen movies, has died at the age of 85.

Roberts’ daughter confirmed the actor’s death to the New York Times, adding he died at his New York home Friday from complications from lung cancer.

The New York-born son of famed radio announcer Ken Roberts, Tony starred in the Broadway production of Barefoot in the Rain (taking over for the play’s original actor, Robert Redford) before appearing in Allen’s Broadway shows Don’t Drink the Water and Play It Again, Sam, with Roberts sharing the stage with Allen in the latter. Roberts was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award for his role in Play It Again, Sam, which he and Allen reprised in the 1972 film adaptation directed by Herbert Ross.

Five years later, Allen would cast Roberts as his Hollywood screenwriter friend in 1977’s Annie Hall, one of six times he’d appear in an Allen-penned movie; Roberts also co-starred in Allen’s Stardust Memories, 1982’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters, and 1987’s Radio Days.

Roberts’ screen roles also included Serpico, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Amityville 3-D, the 2017 remake of Dirty Dancing, and multiple appearances across the Law & Order franchises. On Broadway, Roberts’ credits included How Now, Dow Jones, Sugar, an adaptation of the movie Some Like It Hot, Victor/Victoria alongside Julie Andrews, and a revival of Xanadu.

“I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway,” Roberts told Broadway World in 2015. “In that era there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction.”