Comedian Tony Slattery has died aged 65 following a heart attack, his partner announced.
Slattery appeared on the Channel 4 comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and comedy shows Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You.
A statement 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.”
Born November 9, 1959, Slattery was the contemporary of Dame Emma Thompson, Sir Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie at the University of Cambridge. He was the former president of the improvisation group Cambridge Footlights, and had recently been touring a comedy show in England and launched a podcast, Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club, in October.
Slattery is survived by his partner of more than three decades, the actor Hutchinson. Slattery and Hutchinson met while performing in Me and My Girl in the mid-80s. Speaking in 2019, while discussing his past addictions and his bipolar diagnosis, Slattery said of his partner: "He’s kept with me when my behaviour has been so unreasonable and I can only think it’s unconditional love. He’s certainly not with me for my money – we don’t have any money. It’s the mystery of love. I’m sorry – it makes me very emotional."
In the same interview, Slattery touched on his past reluctance to discuss his sexuality and relationships publicly, with the interviewer suggesting it was perhaps down to his parents, who had since passed. "“Exactly – it was honestly never anything to do with embarrassment," he told the Guardian. "I just knew Mum and Dad would worry themselves to death that I might have Aids. I think Mum knew – she always referred to me as ‘my bachelor son’. But it was just not talked about."
Towards the end of his chat with the publication, Slattery - then 59 - expressed a wish to make it to his 60th birthday. When the interviewer pointed out his milestone birthday was just months away, the comic replied: " A lot can happen between now and then." Hadley Freeman, who conducted the interview, paid tribute to Slattery on Tuesday, writing on Twitter (X): "Oh I'm so sad to hear that Tony Slattery has passed away. Interviewing him in 2019 and 2020 was such an honour. So much love to his devoted partner Mark. Despite everything, I will always remember him like this, so handsome and brilliant on Whose Line."
Outside of stand-up, Slattery appeared in 1980s and 1990s films including crime thriller The Crying Game, Peter’s Friends with Laurie, Sir Stephen and Dame Emma, and black comedy How To Get Ahead In Advertising with Richard E Grant. He also had prominent roles in the theatre, which including receiving a 1995 Olivier Award nod for best comedy performance for the Tim Firth play Neville’s Island, which was later made into a film starring Timothy Spall, and starring in Second World War-set production Privates On Parade, based on the film of the same name, as ace impersonator Captain Terri Dennis.
His West End debut was in the 1930s-style musical Radio Times, and on TV he also played a detective in Tiger Bastable, a gentlemen comedy spoof, and the title character in sitcom Just A Gigolo.
In 2020, Slattery – who regularly spoke openly about his bipolar disorder – revealed 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.
Slattery released the BBC Two Horizon documentary What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, which saw him and Hutchinson visit leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.
Slattery is survived by his partner of more than three decades, the actor Hutchinson.
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