The actor/dancer Sammy Williams who created the of Paul in Michael Bennett’s cult classic musical A Chorus Line for which he won both a Tony, a Drama Desk and an Obie Best Actor award, has died aged 69.
Williams’ monologue chronicling “Paul’s” difficult teen years as a young gay man was completely breathtaking. He stood almost motionless under a single spot as he recounting the sad story if his life to date and at the end of his performance, there was not a dry eye in the house. In a show that empowered so many LGBT lives at the time, it was Williams’ words that defined so many other gay men’s journeys that they could readily relate too.
After a ten year hiatus, Williams returned to the stage in 1998 creating new roles in shows such as Too Old For The Chorus, Like An Old Song, and Doing Judy, a hilarious whodunit murder mystery in which he portrayed a would be Judy Garland female impersonator.
Sammy Williams (November 13, 1948 – March 17, 2018) R.I.P.
Labels: 2018, A Chorus Line, culture, obituary, Sammy Williams
