Veteran comic actor David Marks, a Helen Hayes laureate for his performance as an uncanny handyman in Arena’s Briar Patch, died in his Washington home last Wednesday following a heart attack. He was 49.Marks was nominated for Hayes Awards four times, including for Studio’s The Cripple of Inishmaan in 2005, The Rivals at Olney in 2002, and You Can’t Take It With You at Olney in 2002. In 1990, the year Mr. Marks won his award, he was nominated for a second award for his performance in Arena’s A Lie of the Mind.
Among his most recent performances, Marks played the organist Christoph Graupner from Darmstadt in Rep Stage’s Bach at Leipzig and Nick Bottom in the Joe Banno-directed Midsummer Night’s Dream at Folger. Both plays were in 2007.
Marks was also a Little League coach, a fly fisherman and an organic gardener and was well known for his puckish sense of humor. His bio in Arena’s 1992 production of The Visit, in which he played a policeman, noted that he was “considering law enforcement as a second vocation. However, he feels that choice might be a cop out.”
A 1987 NYU graduate, Marks was a company member of Arena Stage for 11 years. He is survived by his wife, producer Garland Scott, his son Harris, 8, and his parents.
The Folger Theatre (201 East Capitol Street SE) will hold a memorial service for David Marks at 6.30 on Monday, June 22nd.
Recommended:
R. Scott William’s Armchair Activist blog
