Tony Award-winning Broadway star Gavin Creel has died at age 48

NEW YORK – 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 of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma at his home in Manhattan.

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

He played Steven Kodaly in Studio 54’s production of She Loves Me in 2016. The following season, Creel was cast as Cornelius Hackl alongside legends Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce in the hit revival of Hello Dolly!” Directed by Jerry Zaks.

He also played singing waiter Bill opposite Julie Andrews in the films “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime.” In 2021, he was cast in Ryan Murphy’s miniseries American Horror Stories alongside Matt Bomer. His 2022 solo concert was filmed for the first 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.

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