Ken Page, Lion in The Wiz and Old Deuteronomy in Cats, Dies at 70

Ken Page, whose Broadway roles include the Lion in the original Broadway production of The Wiz and Old Deuteronomy in Cats, died in his sleep on September 30. His friend Dorian Hannaway confirmed the death. He was 70.

Page was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he pursued theater from a young age. After making his Broadway debut in The Wiz as a replacement in the role of the Lion, Page was cast as the Nicely-Nicely understudy in the first revival of Guys and Dolls, which featured an all-Black cast. Some happenstace was involved: as Page told The New York Times, “[C]uriously the other guy disappeared and the understudy came out on top.” The Times story noted, “Mr. Page is enormous. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall. 240 pounds wide and 22 years old. He moves like an elephant and like an elephant through daisies. Indeed, his way of moving is one of the most fascinating things about him. He has elegance.”

After Guys and Dolls, Page played a Fats Walleresque vocalist in the Fats Waller musical revue Ain’t Misbehavin’, reprising the role on television and in the 1988 Broadway revival; and played Old Deuteronomy in Cats, reprising the role for the direct-to-video film.

He continued to work at The Muny, where he got his start, appearing in shows including Jesus Christ Superstar, Aida, The Wizard of Oz, Les Misérables and Little Shop of Horrors. He also performed regularly as a cabaret singer, noted for his “smooth, supple heldentenor” that was akin to “such pop-soul balladeers as Luther Vandross and James Ingram.”

In 1993, Page provided the voice of Oogie Boogie, the burlap-sack boogeyman antagonist of the stop-motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas. “They asked me about the character and what did I think,” Page later explained. “I had seen some of the storyboards. I said, ‘To me, maybe it’s a cross between Bert Lahr from The Wizard of Oz, Cab Calloway and the voice of the demon in The Exorcist.”

Earlier this year, Page attended the opening night celebrations for the Broadway revival of The Wiz.