Actor Barry Dennen has died at the age of 79.
The Jesus Christ Superstar actor passed away on Tuesday (26Sep17) while in hospice care in Burbank, California. Dennen suffered a brain injury in June (17), according to Deadline.com.
Dennen began his career on the New York cabaret circuit before moving to London to star as the Emcee in the West End premiere of Cabaret, opposite Judi Dench.
In 1970, he took on the role of Pontius Pilate for the Jesus Christ Superstar cast album and reprised the role in the 1971 Broadway production and 1973 movie.
In addition to his stage appearances, Dennen also did voice work for animated TV shows including DuckTales, Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
He was seen in several TV shows and films including Batman, Galtar and the Golden Lance, Titanic, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Shining.
Dennen is also credited for helping Barbra Streisand establish her career. The two were involved in a romantic relationship and he wrote about their time together in the autobiography My Life With Barbra: A Love Story. He was married to English actress Pamela Strong, the mother of his two adopted sons.
Dennen ‘came out’ as gay and was in a relationship with James McGachy, who lost his battle with cancer in 2001.
