Ken Page, Oogie Boogie in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ Dies at 70

Ken Page, the Broadway veteran who provided the voice of the ghastly villain Oogie Boogie in the Tim Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas, died Monday at his home in St. Louis, his reps said. He was 70.

In his Broadway debut, Page stepped in as a replacement to play the Lion in the original 1975-79 production of The Wiz.

The baritone also originated the role of Old Deuteronomy in 1982 in the original production of Cats; starred in the original 1978-82 Broadway production of Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’; and played Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 1976-77, all-Black revival of Guys and Dolls, a turn that earned him a Theatre World Award.

Page was memorable as Oogie Boogie, the bug-filled Boogeyman, in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), directed by Henry Selick.

In a 2022 interview, he said producers were looking for “someone who was Cab Calloway-esque, Fats Waller-esque.” He added that he saw the character as “somewhere between the voice of the demon in The Exorcist and the cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.”

He later voiced Oogie Boogie in video games and at Disney theme-park attractions.

Kenneth Page was born on Jan. 20, 1954, in in St. Louis, where he attended Bishop DuBourg High School. He then majored in theater at Fontbonne College in Clayton, Missouri.

He played Joe “Cheesecake” Tyson on the 1987-88 ABC series Sable.

His résumé also included the films Torch Song Trilogy (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) — as the voice of King Gator — I’ll Do Anything (1994) and Dreamgirls (2006) and guest spots on such shows as Charmed and Touched by an Angel.

More recently, Page developed and starred in a cabaret show, Page by Page. He often appeared in plays at The Muny, a historic outdoor venue in St. Louis.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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