Tony Roberts, the Charismatic Friend in Woody Allen’s Films, Passes Away at 85

Tony Roberts, the Charismatic Friend in Woody Allen’s Films, Passes Away at 85

Known for his acclaimed Broadway career in musicals and comedies, Tony Roberts was most recognized by movie audiences as the confident and laid-back companion to Woody Allen’s anxious protagonists.

Tony Roberts in New York, 2009. Ben Brantley of The New York Times once described him as "an expert in resonant underplaying." Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

By Anita Gates
February 7, 2025

Tony Roberts, the charming actor who became famous for playing the best friend of Woody Allen's characters in films like Annie Hall, and who earned two Tony Award nominations for his Broadway performances, passed away Friday at the age of 85 at his home in Manhattan. His daughter, Nicole Burley, confirmed the cause of death as complications from lung cancer.

Roberts was known for portraying easygoing, self-assured characters that served as a perfect contrast to Allen’s often insecure and neurotic roles.

In Annie Hall (1977), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Roberts played Rob, a Hollywood actor and tennis partner to Allen's Alvy Singer. While Alvy nervously stumbled through life, Rob breezed through with confidence, preferring the sunnier skies of Los Angeles to his current situation in New York.

Image: Roberts (center) with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (1977). Roberts was a fixture in Allen’s films, embodying calm and confidence alongside Allen’s neurotic heroes. Credit: Brian Hamill/United Artists via Everett Collection

Roberts took on similar roles in other Allen films. In A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), he portrayed a jovial bachelor doctor in early 20th-century New York. In Stardust Memories (1980), he played a cocky actor attending a film festival with a Playboy model. And in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Roberts portrayed a carefree former business partner who donates sperm, leading to a comedic twist in the story.

While his association with Allen was a defining part of his career, Roberts admitted that it was difficult to escape the typecasting. “I was so closely tied to the roles Woody wrote for me that casting agents always saw me in that light,” he shared with The Los Angeles Times in 1997.

Roberts’ first collaboration with Allen was Play It Again, Sam (1972), a comedy that featured him as a businessman with a strained marriage. The film followed a Broadway play from 1969, where Roberts earned a Tony nomination for his performance.

In addition to his Tony nods for Play It Again, Sam and How Now, Dow Jones (a 1968 musical), Roberts also appeared in over two dozen Broadway and regional theater productions. His roles ranged from an architect in Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular (1974) to a retired doctor in The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (2000), with critics praising his ability to underplay characters with charm and wit.

Throughout his career, Roberts was described as "urbanely foolish" and "an expert in resonant underplaying," leaving an enduring mark on both stage and screen.

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