Broadway Star Leo Burmester Dies at 63
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Leo Burmester, who starred as M. Thénardier in the original Broadway production of Les Miserables, died of leukemia on June 28, according to published reports. He was 63 years old.
Burmester made his Broadway debut in 1979 in the double bill Lone Star & Pvt. Wars, in which he also appeared Off-Broadway. Over the next quarter century, he appeared in a wide variety of Broadway shows including Big River, Raggedy Ann, Buried Child, Ah, Wilderness!, The Civil War, and Thou Shalt Not. His last appearance on the Main Stem was as Uncle Bob in Urban Cowboy.
Most recently, he played the role of Hucklebee in the Off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks. His other Off-Broadway credits included Marsha Norman’s Getting Out, Dearly Departed, and the Public Theater’s 1990 production of Hamlet with Kevin Kline.
He is survived by his wife, Lora Lee, and his children Daniel and Colette.
