Robert LuPone

Robert LuPone was an American actor who worked on stage, in film and on television and served as an artistic director. Born in Brooklyn in 1946, he trained as a dancer at Juilliard and made his Broadway debut in 1968 in Noël Coward's Sweet Potato, going on to several more musicals before he auditioned for A Chorus Line (1976), where he persuaded Michael Bennett to let him play the director, Zach, a role that brought a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Later stage credits included Saint Joan, A View from the Bridge, True West and A Thousand Clowns. With Bernie Telsey he founded the Manhattan Class Company in 1986, which became MCC Theater, and as its artistic director produced Frozen, Reasons To Be Pretty and Hand to God. On television he was Dr. Bruce Cusamano on The Sopranos and appeared on Law & Order, All My Children and Guiding Light. He died in 2022.