Comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 following a heart attack, his partner has said.
The actor was famous for appearing on the Channel 4 comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and other series such as Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You.
He had recently been touring a comedy show and launched his podcast, Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club, just a few months ago, in October.
A statement made on behalf of his partner, Mark Michael Hutchinson, said: “It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.”
Clockwise from left: Jennifer Saunders, Hugh Laurie, Emma Freud, Tony Slattery and Stephen Fry pictured in 1991. Pic: PA
Born in 1959, Slattery went to the University of Cambridge alongside contemporaries Dame Emma Thompson, Sir Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
While there, he served as president of the legendary Cambridge Footlights improvisation group.
Alongside Sir Stephen and Dame Emma, he was the winner of the first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. He was also one of the original patrons of Leicester Comedy Festival, along with Norman Wisdom and Sean Hughes, and had been a rector at the University of Dundee.
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Slattery spoke regularly about his bipolar disorder and in 2020 revealed that he went bankrupt following a battle with substance abuse and mental health issues.
He told the Radio Times that his “fiscal illiteracy and general innumeracy” as well as his “misplaced trust in people” had also contributed to his money problems.
He released a BBC documentary called What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, which saw him and Hutchinson visit leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.
Comedians pay tribute to ‘dazzling talent’
Comedians including Richard K Herring and Al Murray are among those who have paid tribute.
“Really sad news about Tony Slattery,” Murray wrote on X. “Such a dazzling talent.”
Tom Walker, best known as the satirical journalist personality Jonathan Pie, said news of Slattery’s death was “absolutely heartbreaking”, and described the comedian as a “genius”.
As well as comedy improvisation shows, Slattery appeared in films in the 1980s and 1990s, including crime thriller The Crying Game, black comedy How To Get Ahead In Advertising, alongside Richard E Grant, and Peter’s Friends, which also starred Laurie, Sir Stephen and Dame Emma.
His film and TV credits also included Carry On Columbus, Robin Hood, Red Dwarf, The English Harem, Cold Blood, The Royal, Just A Gigolo, Tiger Bastable and Coronation Street.
On stage, he received an Olivier Award nomination for best comedy performance in 1995, for the Tim Firth play Neville’s Island, which was later made into a film starring Timothy Spall. He also starred in Privates On Parade, based on the film of the same name, as impersonator Captain Terri Dennis, and made his West End debut in the 1930s-style musical Radio Times.
Slattery is survived by Hutchinson, an actor, and his partner of more than three decades.
