{"id":2404941,"date":"2025-02-20T23:56:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T04:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tony-roberts-1939-2025-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T23:58:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T04:58:56","slug":"tony-roberts-1939-2025-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tony-roberts-1939-2025-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Roberts, 1939\u20132025 &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftony-roberts-1939-2025-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2404941&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Tony Roberts, \u2064a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-complete-guide-to-gina-caranos-post-mma-career\/\" title=\"The Complete Guide to Gina Carano\u2019s Post-MMA Career\">veteran character actor<\/a> known for his collaborations with Woody Allen, passed away on February 7 at the age of \u206485. Born in 1939 in New york City, Roberts was\u200b the son of\u200b a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sportscaster-suspended-for-referencing-illegal-aliens-during-broadcast\/\" title=\"Sports...er suspended while referring to \u201cIllegal Aliens\u201d Broad...\">radio announcer<\/a> and developed a career that \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">included important theater work<\/a> and notable film appearances.He was particularly recognized for his \u200droles in Allen&#8217;s six films,\u2062 where he \u200bfrequently enough played the \u200cstraight man to Allen&#8217;s more neurotic characters. His\u200b calm, comedic demeanor provided \u2064a grounding presence in films such as *Play It Again, sam* and *Annie\u2062 Hall*. <\/p>\n<p>Roberts&#8217; work extended beyond Allen&#8217;s \u2063projects; he had memorable performances in dramas like *Serpico* and *The Taking of \u200cPelham \u2064One Two Three*, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/louie-anderson-emmy-winning-comedian-and-family-feud-host-dies-at-68\/\" title=\"Louie Anderson, Emmy Winning Comedian and &#039;Family Feud&#039; Host, Dies at 68\">made guest appearances<\/a> on various television shows.He also \u2064enjoyed a \u2062resurgence on Broadway in the 1990s and \u200dpublished \u2064a memoir in 2015.\u200c described as the Fred MacMurray of modern character actors, Roberts was known\u200c for his likability and earnestness, \u2063leaving a lasting impact \u200con the film and theater \u2062industries.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Tony Roberts, 1939&ndash;2025<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>During his peak years of popularity and success, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine-life-arts\/179003\/woody-allen-is-making-the-best-of-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Woody Allen<\/a> stepped in front of the camera to whine, complain, or lament, he most often did so in the company of Tony Roberts. The veteran character actor died on Feb. 7 at age 85.<\/p>\n<p>Although Allen is best known for promulgating a certain set of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-the-abc-hit-abbott-elementary-can-go-from-good-to-great\/\" title=\"How The ABC Hit \u2018Abbott Elementary\u2019 Can Go From Good To Great\">character types<\/a> in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/film\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">classic films<\/a>, his own bookish worrywart or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine\/1836477\/keaton-on-film\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Diane Keaton<\/a>&rsquo;s moodily anxious beauty, he also must be credited for seeing the comic possibilities of the altogether less agitated and more grounded Roberts. In six feature films written or directed by Allen, from 1972&rsquo;s <em>Play It Again, Sam<\/em> to 1987&rsquo;s <em>Radio Days<\/em>, Roberts functioned as the straight man in Allen&rsquo;s cinematic universe: He was the solid, good-natured presence off of whom Allen bounced assorted jokes, rants, and melancholic meanderings.<\/p>\n<p>While Allen would warily hold forth, Roberts &mdash; tall, baritone-voiced, sometimes bearded &mdash; would listen with patient forbearance. Only an actor with great reserves of restraint could listen as placidly as Roberts does in <em>Play It Again, Sam<\/em>, when Allen&rsquo;s character, a pathetically unattached film critic named Allan, confidently announces that his date finds him fetching. &ldquo;She digs me &mdash; she&rsquo;s playing it very cool,&rdquo; Allan says, while Roberts looks on without seeming to agree or disagree. Roberts&rsquo;s studied nonresponse is one of the highlights of the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Born in New York City in 1939, Roberts was the son of radio and soap opera announcer Ken Roberts and his wife, Norma. With his commanding presence and ease with high comedy, Roberts was a natural on the boards: He logged appearances in the Broadway productions of <em>Barefoot in the Park<\/em>, <em>How Now, Dow Jones<\/em>, and, most consequentially, in the original 1966 production of <em>Don&rsquo;t Drink the Water<\/em>, the first full-length play penned by Allen, then a stand-up comic who had not yet graduated to making his own films. Then came <em>Play It Again, Sam<\/em>, which originated as a play that opened on Broadway in 1969 and featured the same principal cast later used in the subsequent film adaptation: Allen, Keaton, and, of course, Roberts. By then, Roberts was becoming part of the writer-actor&rsquo;s inner circle. &ldquo;Tony Roberts &hellip; has always been a friend,&rdquo; Allen told interviewer Stig Bjorkman in the book <em>Woody Allen on Woody Allen<\/em>. &ldquo;I like to work with friends and with people I like, because one spends close time with them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tony Roberts.(Brent N. Clarke\/Invision\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not that Allen wasn&rsquo;t above poking fun at a friend: In many of their films together, Allen presented Roberts as so cool-headed as to verge on the comically supercilious. In Allen&rsquo;s 1977 masterpiece <em>Annie Hall<\/em>, Roberts was cast as Rob, the alleged best friend of protagonist Alvy Singer (Allen) &mdash; &ldquo;alleged&rdquo; because Rob, traitorously from Alvy&rsquo;s perspective, pulls up stakes from New York to California, where he finds work in sitcoms. In one memorable scene, Rob is seen orchestrating the laugh track: &ldquo;Now give me a medium-size chuckle here.&rdquo; Later, Rob saunters to his convertible in something like a white sweatshirt that, to our surprise, comes outfitted with a visor. &ldquo;Are we driving through plutonium?&rdquo; Alvy asks, and with Roberts&rsquo;s inimitable straight face, Rob replies that the protective gear keeps out the &ldquo;alpha rays&rdquo; and prevents aging. Roberts delivers such lines with maximum slickness.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because Roberts had a serious bearing even when being made the butt of a joke, several of his best non-Allen roles were in dramas: He was never less than memorable in Sidney Lumet&rsquo;s <em>Serpico <\/em>(1973), Joseph Sargent&rsquo;s <em>The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/em> (1974), and on the NBC movie, <em>The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case <\/em>(1976). He would have been familiar to viewers of network television thanks to his guest appearances on everything from <em>The Love Boat <\/em>to <em>Trapper John, M.D. Law &amp; Order <\/em>became a frequent destination in his later years. He even lent credibility to 1983&rsquo;s horror franchise entrant <em>Amityville 3-D<\/em>, in which he invested his character, a writer for a magazine devoted to the debunking of the paranormal, with gravity and authenticity.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, it was Allen who utilized Roberts to his fullest advantage. Allen again cast Roberts in <em>Stardust Memories <\/em>(1980) and gave him essentially the co-leading role in <em>A Midsummer Night&rsquo;s Sex Comedy <\/em>(1982). The writer-director turned to him again for glorified cameos in <em>Hannah and Her Sisters <\/em>(1986) and <em>Radio Days. <\/em>Allen, whose casting choices increasingly veered toward up-and-coming talent, eventually stopped using Roberts, but his films were the worse for it. Then, in 2001, Roberts turned up one last time in an Allen film, albeit a short one: Along with many of Allen&rsquo;s actor pals, Roberts appeared in <em>Sounds from a Town I Love<\/em>, an Allen-directed short film made to support the post-9\/11 benefit, &ldquo;The Concert for New York City.&rdquo; Roberts proved he could rattle off Allen&rsquo;s dialogue as effortlessly as ever.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the mid-1990s, Roberts mounted something of a Broadway comeback in the stage version of Blake Edwards&rsquo;s <em>Victor\/Victoria<\/em>. He wrote an engaging memoir in 2015, <em>Do You Know Me?<\/em>, and continued to turn up on stage and small screen.<\/p>\n<p>Roberts was the Fred MacMurray of modern character actors: likable, earnest, and forever funny.<\/p>\n<p><em>Peter Tonguette is a contributing writer to the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tony Roberts, 1939\u20132025, a veteran actor who often starred alongside Woody Allen, passed away on February 7 at 85<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2404942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Obit-0226.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[50782,4133,32229,50781,32076],"class_list":["post-2404941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-2025-2","tag-news","tag-obituary","tag-tony-roberts","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Obit-0226.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2404945,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404941\/revisions\/2404945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}