Tony Roberts – actor (1939 – 2025)

Biography and cause of death of Tony Roberts

David Anthony Roberts (October 22, 1939 – February 7, 2025) Tony Roberts was an American actor. He was known for his roles in six Woody Allen movies—most notably Annie Hall—often playing Allen’s best friend.

Tony Roberts Life and career

Roberts was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of radio announcer Ken Roberts and Norma (née Finkelstein), an animator. His family was Jewish. Roberts attended the High School of Music & Art and Northwestern University, and he made his Broadway debut in 1962 with a role in the play Something About a Soldier.

Tony Roberts Film

Roberts collaborated with Woody Allen. In Annie Hall, he portrayed Alvy Singer’s best friend Rob. Other Allen movies and plays in which he appeared include both the Broadway and movie versions of Play It Again, Sam; Radio Days; Stardust Memories; Hannah and Her Sisters; A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy; and Woody Allen’s segment for The Concert for New York City.

Roberts portrayed Deputy Mayor Warren LaSalle in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. He also appeared in the Sidney Lumet movies Serpico and Just Tell Me What You Want. Roberts was in the 1983 horror movie Amityville 3-D, portraying John Baxter.

Roberts was featured in 2014’s The Longest Week.

Tony Roberts Theater

Roberts’s Broadway credits include Barefoot in the Park; How Now, Dow Jones; Murder at the Howard Johnson’s; Promises, Promises; Sugar (the musical version of the movie Some Like It Hot); The Sisters Rosensweig; They’re Playing Our Song; Victor/Victoria; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Arsenic and Old Lace; and Cabaret. In 1998, he played Buddy Plummer in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. In 2007, Roberts returned to Broadway in the musical Xanadu.

Tony Roberts Television and radio

For television, Roberts was the third actor to play Lee Pollock on The Edge of Night.[citation needed] He appeared in numerous series such as The Carol Burnett Show, Matlock, and Law & Order. In 1977, he featured in the short-lived series Rosetti and Ryan with Squire Fridell.

In 1978, he was on The Love Boat. Roberts and Lauren Tewes’s character, cruise ship director Julie McCoy, fall in love but don’t pursue a relationship.

He featured (with Penny Fuller, who had played his wife on The Edge of Night) on the ABC comedy The Thorns. He was a regular performer on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Roberts also provides the narration on many of the audiobooks in Stuart Woods’s Stone Barrington novels. His other audiobook credits include Andrew Vachss’s Batman: The Ultimate Evil, Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, and Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese?.

Tony Roberts Death

Roberts died of lung cancer at his Manhattan home on February 7, 2025, at the age of 85.

Tony Roberts Filmography

The Trials of O’Brien (1965) — Charlie
The Edge of Night (1965–1966) — Lee Pollock
A Guide for the Married Man (1969, TV movie)
Men at Law (1970) — Jack Halbert
The Million Dollar Duck (1971) — Fred Hines
Star Spangled Girl (1971) — Andy Hobart
Play It Again, Sam (1972) — Dick

Serpico (1973) — Bob Blair
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) — Warren LaSalle
Le Sauvage (1975) — Alex Fox
Annie Hall (1977) — Rob
The Girls in the Office (1979, TV movie) — Mike Holden
Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) — Mike Berger
Stardust Memories (1980) — Tony
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) — Maxwell
Amityville 3-D (1983) — John Baxter

Key Exchange (1985) — David Slattery
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) — Norman — Mickey’s ex-partner
Seize the Day (1986) — Bernie Pell
Radio Days (1987) — ‘Silver Dollar’ Emcee
18 Again! (1988) — Arnie Watson
Fist Fighter (1989)
Law & Order (1991–2010) — Senator Bryce Peterson, Paul Redfield, Nicholas Bennett, Lucas Pollard
Popcorn (1991) — Mr. Davis
Switch (1991) — Arnold Freidkin

Our Sons (1991) — Harry
Apologies to Bunuel (1996) — Steve
Dead Broke (1998) — Walter
The Concert for New York City: “Sounds from a Town I Love” (2001) — Man on Bench
My Best Friend’s Wife (2001) — Mr. Epstein
Twelve and Holding (2005) — Doctor
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2008) — Ziggy Gold
The Longest Week (2014) — Barry the Therapist
Dirty Dancing (2017) — Max Kellerman

Source: Wikipedia