Ken Page was best known as a stage actor, with Deadline referring to him as one of Broadway’s most familiar character actors, but he did earn several film credits over the decades as well, appearing in films like Torch Song Trilogy, The Kid Who Loved Christmas, I’ll Do Anything, and Dreamgirls, as well as TV shows like Gimme a Break!, Family Matters, Touched by an Angel, and more. Page also did a good amount of voice acting work – with his most popular credit coming when he provided the voice of Oogie Boogie in the Henry Selick / Tim Burton stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. Page would go on to voice Oogie Boogie again for the Kingdom Hearts video games, the video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge, and the ride walk-through short Haunted Mansion Holiday. Sadly, it’s being reported that Page passed away in his sleep on September 30th at the age of 70.
Born on January 20, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, Page decided to start pursuing a stage acting career while he was in high school and ended up receiving a full scholarship in musical theater at Fontbonne College in Clayton, Missouri. He officially started his career in the chorus of the Muny outdoor theater in St. Louis, then make his Broadway debut in 1977 as part of the replacement cast for Cats. Five years later, he was cast in the Cats role that became his signature stage role, the wise Old Deuteronomy, “the elderly leader of the Jellicle cats who, along with Grizabella the Glamour Cat, is lifted to the Heaviside Layer and marked for rebirth at the musical’s end.”
Page racked up a lot of stage roles over the years, and we’ll go through some of them here. He played The Lion in The Wiz, Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls, Ken in Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, Van Buren in Damn Yankees, The Lord in Randy Newman’s Faust, Old Max in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, Joe Bell in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Chuck in Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, Stewpot in South Pacific, Chaim in Fiddler on the Roof, Teen Angel in Grease, Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady, Bellomy in The Fantasticks, King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Maurice in Beauty and the Beast, Professor Marvel in The Wizard of Oz, Bumble in Oliver!, Monsieur Thénardier in Les Misérables, King Triton in The Little Mermaid, Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, Marty in Dreamgirls, Sultan in Aladdin, Doc in West Side Story, Porter in Tarzan, The Narrator in Into the Woods, Grandpa Prophater in Meet Me in St. Louis, Arvide Abernathy in Guys and Dolls, and The Bishop of Digne in Les Misérables, among other credits.
Many fans hear Page’s performance as Oogie Boogie in repeat viewings of The Nightmare Before Christmas every year, from October through December, and it’s a shame that he won’t be able to join in on the Halloween/Christmas festivities any longer. Our sincere condolences go out to Ken Page’s family, friends, and fans.
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