Early life
Rees was born on 5 May 1944 in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales, the son of Doris Louise (nee Smith), a shop clerk, and William John Rees, a police officer.1 The family relocated to Balham, in south London, where he grew up.1 He pursued visual art as a young man, studying at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Slade School of Fine Art.1 His path to acting was accidental: while painting backdrops at the Wimbledon Theatre he was asked to step into a stage role, and found the work more compelling than the canvas.1 He transitioned fully to acting in the mid-1960s, appearing on London and Scottish stages before his fourth audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company finally earned him a place in the company in 1968 as a walk-on, sword carrier, and bit player.
Career
Royal Shakespeare Company
Rees rose steadily through the RSC over the following decade. Among his most notable assignments was playing Malcolm in Trevor Nunn's celebrated 1976 production of Macbeth, filmed for television in 1978.1 He also appeared in RSC productions of The Comedy of Errors, Three Sisters, Cymbeline, and Hamlet.
Nicholas Nickleby and international recognition
His career-defining role came when he created the title character in David Edgar's stage adaptation of Dickens's novel, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, for the RSC. The production transferred to Broadway and became one of the most acclaimed stage events of its era. Rees won the Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play in 1980 and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1982.1 A filmed version of the stage production earned him an Emmy nomination in 1983.1
Television
American television audiences came to know Rees through two long-running roles. From 1989 to 1993 he played Robin Colcord, a sophisticated English business tycoon and love interest for Rebecca Howe, on Cheers.1 From 2000 to 2005 he recurred as Lord John Marbury, the flamboyant British Ambassador to the United States, on The West Wing.1 He also appeared in My So-Called Life and Warehouse 13, among many other credits.3
Film
Rees appeared in Mel Brooks's comedy Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) as the Sheriff of Rottingham, a comedic villain role that brought him to a wide mainstream audience.3 Later film credits include Frida (2002), Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006), and The Pink Panther (2006).3
Broadway and later stage work
Beyond Nicholas Nickleby, Rees had a substantial stage career. He starred in the original West End production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing at the Strand Theatre in London in 1982.1 He received an Obie Award for The End of the Day in 1992.1 He was nominated for a Tony Award for Indiscretions in 1995.1 In 2011 he stepped into the role of Gomez Addams in The Addams Family musical, replacing Nathan Lane.1 He co-directed Peter and the Starcatcher in 2012, winning a second Obie Award.1 From November 2004 to October 2007 he served as artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, only the fourth person to hold the post in its history.1
His final stage role was Anton Schell in The Visit on Broadway, which ran from April to June 2015.1 He left the production in mid-May when his illness made speaking too difficult (see below).
Ghostbusters
Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)
Rees guest-starred as the voice of the Piper in "The Pied Piper of Manhattan," the eleventh episode of Extreme Ghostbusters (1997).2 The Piper is a ghost modeled on the legend of the Pied Piper: he presents himself to the city as a demon exterminator, then turns against Manhattan when the mayor refuses to meet his extortionate fee, luring children away into danger.2 The episode contains a self-referential nod to Rees's role as the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, as the character Eduardo remarks that the Piper "talks like a bad Robin Hood movie."2
Personal life
Rees became a naturalized United States citizen in 1989, after more than 25 years of living in America.1 He converted to Judaism during the 1980s.1 He married his longtime partner, playwright Rick Elice, in 2011 shortly after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York State; the two had been together for 33 years and collaborated professionally on several projects, including the comedic thriller Double Double.1
Death
In October 2014, Rees was diagnosed with brain cancer.1 He underwent two brain surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy while continuing to prepare for The Visit.1 By mid-May 2015, speaking had become too difficult and he left the production. He died at his home in New York City on 10 July 2015, aged 71.1 Broadway theater marquees were dimmed in his honor on 15 July 2015.1 His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.1 He was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame on 16 November 2015.1
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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"Roger Rees," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Rees
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Extreme Ghostbusters, "The Pied Piper of Manhattan," Season 1, Episode 11 (Sony Pictures Television, 1997).
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"Roger Rees," IMDb, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0715953/
