Sills, Douglas Howard ²

  General Notes:

Born in Detroit, Michigan, he grew up in the suburb of Franklin, where he was friends (and did amateur theatrics and films) with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Sills attended Cranbrook School, from which he graduated in 1978, and the Universi ty of Michigan where he majored in music. He then continued his education at the American Conservatory Theatre in California.

During the 1990s, Sills built a solid reputation as a stage character actor, especially in the professional theaters of southern California. He also performed in several national tours, including Into The Woods and The Secret Garden (musical), wh ich would also feature future Broadway stars as James Stacy Barbour and Audra McDonald. His first Broadway role, however, came when composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist Nan Knighton arrived in hopes of finding a male lead for their new musical, T he Scarlet Pimpernel (musical). Before this audition, Sills told his agent not to send him out on any more auditions because he was going to law school; he scored in the 99th percentile on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) so he could mak e a stable living. However, being a fan of the movie as a child, Sills decided to give acting one more chance. Luckily, the casting directors cast Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, the lead role. Douglas Sills opened on his first Broadway show on No vember 9, 1997. Continuing the role in three other versions of the show. Sills received a Tony Award nomination for his role. He portrayed the foppish hero in SP 1.0 (The Original Broadway Production, starring Terrence Mann, Christine Andrea s & Gilles Chiason), SP 2.0 (Revised Broadway Production, starring Rachel York & Rex Smith), and was seen for several months in the National Tour (4.0). Although rumored to play the title role of Wildhorn's Dracula, the musical, Sills opted out ( despite doing a recording demo), and rather Tom Hewitt portrayed the gothic character at the premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2001. He has also played Orin Scrivello, as well as several other roles in the 2003 Broadway revival cast of Littl e Shop of Horrors (musical).

In 2004, Sills joined the Broadway-aimed Chicago production of Monty Python's Spamalot. However, before the production even began, Sills left on his own account due to reported "major script changes." In early 2005, production plans were announ ced for Wildhorn's new musical "Cyrano de Bergerac," from the same team that helped launch his career with The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical). The role was written specifically for Sills in the title role. However, plans were scraped suddenly in Sp ring 2006, and no reason was given for the production's demise. A studio-concept recording was planned to be released, starring Sills, Linda Eder and Rob Evan, but plans also quickly fell through.

In 2009, Sills starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth at the New York City Center's production of Music in the Air, a long-forgotten Kern-Hamerstein project from the 1930s. The concert-style version ran from February 5 until February 8.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Birth in Week. Tuesday

• Hebrew name. ² Yehezkiel

• Jewish Birth Date. 10 Tammuz 5720