The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced.
Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
A statement on behalf of Mark Michael Hutchinson, his partner of more than three decades, 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.”
Paying tribute to Slattery, the comedian Sandi Toksvig said: “I don’t think I ever met a more beautiful man than Tony Slattery. I was 19 when we met and thought he was astonishing.
“Stunning to look at, glorious smile, infectious laugh and a streak of kindness a mile wide. I loved him. We all did. In a crowded room of talent, he was the brightest and the best.”
Clive Anderson, who hosted Whose Line Is It Anyway?, said: “With quick wit and stunning good looks Tony was unfailingly funny and even more unfailingly outrageous. He would not use two words if a ruder one would do – the naughtiest kid in the class, adored by the studio audience and those watching on TV.”
Born into a working-class family in north London in 1959, Slattery won a scholarship to study medieval and modern languages at Cambridge University.
At Cambridge he was the contemporary of Dame Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Sir Stephen Fry – who invited him to join the Cambridge Footlights, the university’s famous amateur dramatics club. Soon, Slattery was named president of the club, following in the footsteps of Eric Idle, Clive Anderson and Peter Cook. “Getting up on stage and hearing laughter took over,” he once said.
Slattery had recently been touring a comedy show in England, and launched a podcast, Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club, in October.
Outside standup, he appeared in films in the 1980s and 90s, including the crime thriller The Crying Game, Peter’s Friends, in which Laurie, Fry and Thompson also appeared, and the comedy How to Get Ahead in Advertising, with Richard E Grant.
He also had prominent roles in the theatre, receiving a 1995 Olivier award nomination for best comedy performance for the Tim Firth play Neville’s Island, which was later made into a film starring Timothy Spall. He also starred in the 1995 second world war-set production Privates on Parade as the 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 spoof comedy show, and the title character in the sitcom Just a Gigolo.
But he will be most remembered for his work on the Channel 4 flagship comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which saw performers conduct a series of short improvisation games with suggestions from the host or the audience.
Slattery appeared in 48 episodes from 1988 to 1995, becoming one of the show’s most popular performers. His departure in series seven affected the show’s ratings.
Anderson added: “More recently we did a live, stage version of Whose Line at the Edinburgh Festival. Older and wiser, a bit battered, having endured many an up and down in life, Tony was still the naughtiest kid in the class. And audience still adored him.”
Paul Merton, who appeared alongside Slattery on the Whose Line Is It Anyway?, called Slattery a “very rare talent” and said he was “struck by his stage presence, his comic energy, his fierce intelligence and his devastatingly good looks”.
Merton continued: “But I was also aware that there was a sadness inside of him. From the outside Tony was one of those people who appeared to have everything going for him. Everything but inner stability. He should have been one of our biggest stars. He had the world at his feet.”
Slattery spoke openly about his bipolar disorder, telling the Guardian in 2019: “I had a very happy time until I went slightly barmy.”
In 2020 he revealed he went bankrupt after experiencing substance abuse and mental health problems. He told the Radio Times his “fiscal illiteracy and general innumeracy”, as well as his “misplaced trust in people”, had also contributed to his financial problems.
Slattery released the BBC Two Horizon documentary What’s the Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, in which he and Hutchinson visited leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.
He had previously appeared in the 2006 BBC Two programme The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive to speak about his condition.
He said: “I rented a huge warehouse by the River Thames. I just stayed in there on my own, didn’t open the mail or answer the phone for months and months and months. I was just in a pool of despair and mania.”
Slattery also made appearances in the final Carry on film, Carry on Columbus, as well as Robin Hood, Red Dwarf, The English Harem, Cold Blood, The Royal and Coronation Street.
He won the first Perrier award at the Edinburgh fringe along with Fry and Thompson, was one of the original patrons of Leicester comedy festival with Norman Wisdom and Sean Hughes, and had been a rector at the University of Dundee.
Other comics who paid tribute to Slattery on Tuesday included Richard Herring, Al Murray, Arthur Smith, Jonathan Pie, and the Absolutely Fabulous actor Helen Lederer.
Murray called Slattery “a dazzling talent”. Smith paid tribute to Slattery’s “brilliant quick wit”, while Pie called him “a genius.”.
Lederer said: “My best friend in laughter, wit, love, absurdity, being my best man (twice), we adored you – what will we do now?”
• This article was amended on 16 January 2025. An earlier version referred to Slattery starring in a production of the play Privates on Parade, and said it was “based on a film of the same name”. Slattery appeared in a 1995 production of the 1977 farce by Peter Nichols. The film adaptation came in 1983.
