Tony Slattery, the British actor and comedian famous for his improvisational skills on Channel 4’s Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has died at the age of 65 following a heart attack. Sir Stephen Fry led tributes to his former colleague and friend, describing him as “a screamingly funny deeply talented wit and clown”. Slattery starred in other television shows and films, including Just A Minute, Have I Got News For You, The Crying Game, Peter’s Friends and the dark comedy How to Get Ahead in Advertising. He earned an Olivier Award nomination for best comedy performance for his role as Gordon in Tim Firth’s play Neville’s Island.
Born to a working-class family in North London in 1959, Slattery won a scholarship to study medieval and modern languages at Cambridge University. There he met Fry and became President of the Cambridge Footlights, the amateur dramatics club that won the inaugural Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival with its production of The Cellar Tapes in 1981. Slattery went on to appear on the London club circuit, performing “kind of a variety act with bizarre turns”, and made several TV appearances, including a stint hosting children’s programme TX.
Slattery’s big break came in 1986 when he landed a starring role in the West End musical Me and My Girl, before going on to appear in Radio Times, Privates on Parade and Neville’s Island, to critical acclaim. The comic actor took a break from performing for personal reasons before returning to film and TV with a number of projects for the BBC. He had recently been touring a comedy show in England and launched a podcast, Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club, in October.
Throughout his career, Slattery struggled with bipolar disorder, which was eventually diagnosed after he had a physical and mental breakdown in 1996, aged 36. Slattery had problems with drink and drugs and admitted himself to hospital on several occasions. He was survived by his partner of more than three decades, actor Mark Michael Hutchinson. In a 2020 interview with the Guardian, Slattery said of Hutchinson: “He’s kept with me when my behaviour has been so unreasonable, and I can only think it’s unconditional love. It’s the mystery of love.
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