Tony-winning actor Barnard Hughes dies at 90

Posted:
Jul 11, 2006

Tony- and Emmy-winning character actor Barnard Hughes, whose Broadway career dated back to 1935, died Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 90.

Hughes died at New York Presbyterian Hospital, said Chris Boneau, a spokesman for Hughes' family. He had over 400 roles on Broadway, TV and films.

Hughes had voice roles in two cartoons directed by Michael Sporn: as Granpa, Melissa Cayanni and Peter Prinstein in What's Under My Bed?(Weston Woods Studios Inc., 1989), and as the Treasurer in The Emperor's New Clothes(Michael Sporn Animation Inc., 1991) -- the latter winning honorable mention at the American Film and Video Festival.

He appeared along with a vast galaxy of stars, including Lauren Bacall, Alec Baldwin, Glenn Close, Alfred Drake, Michael J. Fox, Lillian Gish, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosemary Harris, Walter Matthau, Bill Murray, Christopher Plummer, Robert Preston, Vanessa Redgrave, George C. Scott, Kiefer Sutherland, Jon Voight and Nicol Williamson.

He won the Tony for portraying a curmudgeonly Irish father -- the title character -- in Hugh Leonard's Da (1978). Hughes also won the Outstanding Actor Drama Desk Award for the role, which he also played in the 1988 film version.

His Emmy came for a guest role as Judge Felix Ruthman in "Judge," a 1977 episode of Lou Grant.

Born on July 16, 1915 in Bedford Hills, New York, Hughes was nominated for a Tony for featured actor for his role as Dogberry in the New York Shakespeare Festival's revival of Much Ado About Nothing.

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films nominated him for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Grandpa in The Lost Boys (1987).

His numerous TV guest appearances included a role as Father John Majeski in three episodes of All in the Family -- including the memorable "Edith's Accident" (1971), in which Edith dents his car with a can of cling peaches.

Hughes held many jobs in his youth: a dock checker in New York harbor, a Macy's salesman and a Wall Street copyreader.

On a dare from a friend, he auditioned for the stage. "He did not intend to become an actor, but he'd had a love for the theatre, and after watching a particularly bad performance at one time, boasted he could do better and was tricked into an audition which he passed," Doug Macaulay wrote in Great Character Actors.

His career began with a single line in the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory Company's 1934 production of The Taming of the Shrew. The following year, he debuted on Broadway in 1935 in Herself Mrs. Patrick Crowley.

He performed in stock companies touring the United States until 1942. During the Second World War, he served in the United States Army.

Hughes resumed his stage career in 1945. While performing in a veteran's hospital show, he met actress Helen Stenborg, whom he married in 1950. The couple acted together on Broadway as late as 2000 in Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings.

His other Broadway credits included A Majority of One (1959), Advise and Consent (1960), Nobody Loves an Albatross (1960), Hamlet (1964), How Now Dow Jones (1967), Uncle Vanya, Abelard and Heloise (1971), The Good Doctor (1973), All Over Town (1974), Angels Fall (1983), End of the World, The Iceman Cometh and Prelude to a Kiss (1990).

His films included Hamlet (alongside Richard Burton), Midnight Cowboy, The Hospital, Cold Turkey, Where's Poppa?, First Monday in October, Oh, God!, Tron, Maxie, Doc Hollywood, Sister Act 2 and Cradle Will Rock.

Hughes starred in the TV series Doc (1975), Mr. Merlin (1981) and The Cavanaughs (1986), and played a recurring role (as Buzz Richman) from 1981 to 1985 on Blossom. He guest-starred on The Bob Newhart Show (as Bob Hartley's dad Herb) and appeared in such other TV productions as Playhouse 90, Kraft Theatre, Armstrong Circle Theatre, The Guiding Light and As the World Turns.

For over a decade, Hughes was president of the Episcopal Actors' Guild. He also served for many years on the council of The Actors' Fund.

In 1992, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Manhattan College, the school he'd dropped out of to become an actor.

In 1995, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. He and his wife received a Drama Desk Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2000.

His last public appearance took place June 1 this year at the Shubert Theatre in a celebration of 60 years of the Tony Awards. Hughes was photographed with 110 Best Actor and Best Actress Tony winners, including Philip Bosco, Glenn Close, Brian Dennehy, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson and Marian Seldes.

Besides his wife, Bernard Hughes is survived by his son, Tony Award-winning director Doug Hughes (Doubt); daughter Laura; and grandson Samuel Hughes Rubin.

Funeral services will be private, but plans for a memorial gathering will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Actors' Fund.