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Arts and Culture
The Associated Press

Gavin Creel, Tony Award winner and musical Broadway veteran, dies at 48

portrait of a man
Gavin Creel, who plays Claude in the musical "Hair", poses for a picture in New York on April 23, 2009. Creel died Monday of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48.
Seth Wenig | AP

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Gavin Creel, a Broadway veteran who won a Tony Award for “Hello, Dolly!” and nominations for “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” died Monday of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48.

Publicist Matt Polk said Creel died at his home in Manhattan of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma.

Creel performed the role of Dr. Pomatter in Sara Bareilles’ musical “Waitress” on Broadway in 2019 and on the West End in 2020. He won an Olivier Award for “The Book of Mormon.”

He played Steven Kodaly in the 2016 production of "She Loves Me" at Studio 54. The following season, Creel was tapped for the role of Cornelius Hackl, opposite legends Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce, in the smash 2017 revival of “Hello, Dolly!” directed by Jerry Zaks.

He also played the singing waiter Bill in the films “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime” alongside Julie Andrews. In 2021, he was cast in Ryan Murphy’s miniseries “American Horror Stories” opposite Matt Bomer. His 2022 solo concert was filmed for the premiere episode of PBS’s "Stars Onstage at Westport Country Playhouse."

He is survived by his mother, Nancy Clemens Creel, and father, James William Creel; his sisters, Heather Elise Creel and Allyson Jo Creel; and his partner, Alex Temple Ward.