Tony-Winning Actor Philip Bosco Passes Away at 88

According to the New York Times, Tony winner Philip Bosco passed away yesterday, December 3, 2018, in his New Jersey home from complications of dementia. He was 88 years old.

Bosco received a Tony Award nomination for his debut in The Rape of the Belt in 1960 and spent the next three decades supporting major stars in classic revivals like Cyrano de Bergerac, King Lear, and Twelfth Night.

He appeared in revivals of plays by George Bernard Shaw, including Man and Superman, Saint Joan, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Major Barbara, Heartbreak House (opposite Rex Harrison), and You Never Can Tell, winning Tony nominations for the last three. He also appeared with Shirley Knight in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Come Back, Little Sheba.

Following his Tony-winning performance in the farce Lend Me a Tenor in 1990, Bosco appeared on Broadway in An Inspector Calls (1994), The Heiress (1995), Twelfth Night (1998), Copenhagen (2000), and Twelve Angry Men (2004).

He played "Grandpa Potts" in the 2005 Broadway production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and capped his Shawian work as the aged Captain Shotover in a Broadway revival of Heartbreak House in 2006. He retired from the stage in 2009, after appearing in the City Center Encores production of Finian's Rainbow, although he loaned his voice to Douglas Carter Beane's 2010 play "Mr. and Mrs. Fitch".

In 1988, Bosco won a Daytime Emmy award for his appearance in the ABC Weekend Special 'Read Between The Lines'. Bosco was a series regular on the FX original series Damages. In 1998, Bosco was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.