Prolific Stage and Screen Actor David Wilson Barnes Dies at 52

Actor David Wilson Barnes died on July 30 after a multi-year battle with cancer, according to a blog post from his mother. He was 52.

Barnes most recent Broadway appearance was as predatory talent agent Luther St. John in Jez Butterworth’s Tony-nominated drama The Hills of California, which ran in 2024. Prior to that, he’d appeared on Broadway in James Graham’s Ink and Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

The actor amassed a ton of credits off-Broadway and regionally, including Sam Gold’s New York Theatre Workshop revival of Othello, led by Daniel Craig, David Oyelowo, and Rachel Brosnahan; Stephen Belber’s Don’t Go Gentle at MCC Theater; Dan LeFranc’s The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons; Zach Braff’s All New People at Second Stage; Deirdre O’Connell’s Jailbait; and, perhaps most notably, Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw. He appeared in multiple productions of Gionfriddo’s dark comedy, at the Humana Festival, in New York at Second Stage, and at London’s Almeida Theatre.

Regionally, Barnes performed at the Geffen Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre, the Long Wharf, and the Cape Playhouse, among others.

On television, he appeared with Pierce Brosnan in The Son, Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain in George & Tammy, and on Blue Bloods, All My Children, As the World Turns, Sex and the City, The Gilded Age, and Hell on Wheels.

Barnes was married for 28 years to the choreographer/performer Monica Bill Barnes, who is among his survivors.