ROBERTS, TONY

ROBERTS, TONY (1939– ), U.S. actor. Born in New York City, the son of a well-known radio announcer, Roberts studied acting at Northwestern University and then struck out for New York, working in commercials. He got a regular stint on the television soap opera The Edge of Night and then began a long-term friendship and professional relationship with the comedian-writer-director woody allen when he was cast as Diane Keaton's husband in Allen's Broadway production Play It Again, Sam (1969). Roberts appeared in such Allen works as Annie Hall (1977), Stardust Memories (1980), A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), and Radio Days (1987). In 1995 Roberts costarred on Broadway with Julie Andrews, playing a flamboyant homosexual cabaret entertainer in the musical version of Andrews' 1981 movie Victor/Victoria. He continued in film and on Broadway throughout the early years of the 21st century. (Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)