Tony Slattery dies aged 65
- Tony Slattery has died aged 65, after having suffered a heart attack at the weekend
- He found fame in Channel 4 improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Tony Slattery has died aged 65, his family has confirmed.
Finding fame in Channel 4 improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which started in 1988, he went on to appear in many other comedy productions, both on screen, stage and radio.
He earned an Olivier Award nomination for best comedy performance for his role in Neville's Island, and was a winner at the inaugural Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 1981.
A statement on behalf of his partner Mark Michael Hutchinson said: "It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.
"A graduate and former president of Cambridge Footlights, where he was a contemporary with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, Tony was known and loved for his appearances on comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? as well as many other TV series and films. He had recently been touring a comedy show in England and launched a podcast, Tony Slattery's Rambling Club, in October.
"One of five siblings, Tony had previously lost a sister to cancer and one of his brothers to a heart attack only last year."
Interviewer and producer of his latest shows, Erica Lear, said today: "I will miss my mischievous partner in crime. They say you should never meet your heroes, but I met mine and he became my best friend".
Slattery was born in London in 1959 and won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he studied medieval and modern languages and quickly joined the lauded Footlights dramatic society. Performing revue The Cellar Tapes, he won the inaugural Edinburgh Comedy Award - the Perrier - in 1981 alongside the likes of Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.
Later in the decade he established himself on the West End stage, and became a leading member of the Comedy Store Players, but undiagnosed bipolar disorder lead to addictions and multiple physical and mental breakdowns, notably from 1996 onwards. In 2019 he revealed he had been sexually abused by a Catholic priest from the age of eight, which he believed contributed to his unstable mental health.
In 2020 he and his Hutchinson - his partner since the mid-80s - were the focus of an episode of BBC science strand Horizon entitled What's The Matter With Tony Slattery?, examining his health in-depth. The programme was critically praised for its sensitive and thoughtful depiction and investigation of mental health.
Here is Slattery in action on Whose Line Is It Anyway?: