from the USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — Dick Latessa, 87, the veteran song-and-dance man who stole hearts as Wilbur Turnblad in the original Broadway production of Hairspray died Dec. 19, 2016.

Mr. Latessa was also a breeder and owner of Standardbreds and a 35-year member of the USTA.

Audiences will fondly remember Mr. Latessa’s Wilbur cutting a rug with his wife Edna, played by Harvey Fierstein, in the 2003 Tony Award-winning musical. Mr. Latessa was rewarded with his first and only Tony Award, for best featured performance by an actor in a musical. He was 74.

A Cleveland native, Mr. Latessa was a regular on New York stages, appearing opposite Keith Carradine in Tommy Tune’s production of The Will Rogers Follies, and in revivals of such popular musicals as Damn Yankees and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, among many others.

His last show was a 2012 Broadway transfer of the Vineyard Theatre production of Nicky Silver’s The Lyons, with Linda Lavin.

Open-faced and quick with a smile, Mr. Latessa was loved by the companies he worked with, always appearing to relish being part of a team putting on a show that would give pleasure to hundreds of people. He never lost that spirit.