May he rest in peace.
Marcus D’Amico, who was known for playing Michael “Mouse” Tolliver in the 1993 miniseries Tales of the City, has died at 55.
Tales of the City was a celebrated miniseries for its depiction of LGBTQ life and struggles. The show, which later got follow-up series and a Netflix revival, focused on a group of San Francisco residents and specifically Laura Linney’s Mary Ann Singleton. Mary Ann moves into an apartment managed by community-loving marijuana grower Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis). Mary Ann then gets to know and befriends her neighbors such as the bisexual Mona Ramsey, her love interest Brian Hawkins, and Marcus D’Amico’s Mouse Tolliver who was gay and living with HIV. While D’Amico did not return to the role after its follow-up series and iterations, he is remembered for his contribution to LGBTQ media.
But that’s not all that Marcus D’Amico did in his life. The German-born actor honed his artistic skills in the U.K. In London, he enjoyed a successful stage career. D’Amico even originated the role of Louis in the National Theatre’s 1992 production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. For the performance, he received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. It was then that D’Amico moved into tv acting with Tales of the City.
According to Deadline, D’Amico’s sister was the first one to announce his death. She did so on December 23.
“Not only have I lost my beautiful brother but the world has lost an incredibly talented actor and director,” she wrote on Instagram. “Words cannot express how much I miss him.”
PR expert Kevin Wilson then confirmed the news on the 24th. The news then became public knowledge earlier today.
As Wilson wrote on Twitter, “It’s really sad for me personally to have to mark the death of actor Marcus D’Amico who as a 1st-time producer I had cast in his last UK theatre sucess Terrence McNally’s ‘The Lisbon Traviata’ at the @KingsHeadThtr in 2003 – a troubled soul I hope he found some inner peace. RIP”
It's really sad for me personally to have to mark the death of actor Marcus D'Amico who as a 1st-time producer I had cast in his last UK theatre sucess Terrence McNally's 'The Lisbon Traviata' at the @KingsHeadThtr in 2003 – a troubled soul I hope he found some inner peace. RIP pic.twitter.com/6nPIHKTyx6
— Kevin Wilson 💙 (@KevinWilsonPR) December 24, 2020
According to Marcus D’Amico’s former manager Patrick Baca, D’Amico died of bronchial pneumonia.
Rest in peace, Marcus D’Amico.
Source: Deadline,
Marcus was born in 1965 and growing up in Britain and being gay just wasn’t easy. Indeed being gay was still a crime until 1967 and you could go to prison for it. Imagine being gay and growing up at a time like that! He also had parents and a family to think of and all the impact on them. I admire him! By the time of Tales Of The City it was a slightly different era and, even though it wasn’t great, there was a different attitude and emerging culture. With changing ideas and morality and a far more friendly and understanding society. Guess who we can thank for that? Marcus. He helped to bring about this change in the many roles that he played. This is especially so within the United States. It could be argued he did a lot more for the gay people than many of the “out” gay people we admire. It could even be argued the “out” gay people sometimes do more harm than good. Marcus did the best that he could in the times he lived in. This is all that we could ask of him. It was just not easy for him. We should all accept it and respect him. Indeed I love him all the more for the fact he struggled. A real hero and an amazing example. Someone who walked the hard road in this life, not life’s easy byway. Someone who did not benefit from liberation, but who brought it about. I know who I admire most. Marcus was just a fine actor who was nominated for that Laurence Olivier Award. Not many can say that, least of all his harsh critics. I will remember Marcus as a real inspiration to my generation.