NEW YORK — Roger Rees, the lanky Tony Award-winning Welsh-born actor and director who made his mark onstage as Nicholas Nickleby and later played English multi-millionaire Robin Colcord on the TV show “Cheers,” has died. He was 71.
Rees died Friday night at his home in New York after a brief battle with cancer, said his representative, Rick Miramontez.
Rees also played the British ambassador on “The West Wing.” Other recent TV credits include “Elementary” and “The Good Wife.”
He was best known onstage for playing the title character in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s original production of Charles Dickens’ “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” in England and on Broadway. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony. When it was adapted to TV, he earned an Emmy Award nomination.
