Patti LuPone recalls her brother Robert LuPone’s “unparalleled” dance just days after he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.
“My brother Bobby was an unparalleled dancer,” the Broadway icon, 73, told Vidak For Congress exclusively on Monday.
“And it all started when he saw me wearing a hula skirt during a dance recital. I was 4, he 7.”
During their teens, the sister-brother duo were admitted to The Juilliard School. Robert, who was three years ahead, was studying dance and Patti was a student for the theater department.
The actress noted that there was a “life-size photo” of her brother dancing in Jose Limon’s modern ballet, “There’s a Time”, which hung in the photo gallery of the prestigious school.
“A few years later, as a student in the theater division, I would walk by it both proudly and in awe,” recalled the “Evita” star.
Robert graduated from Juilliard in 1968 with a BFA in dance, and his talents landed him a role in “A Chorus Line.” His performance as Zach earned him a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
In an interview with Playbill in 1998, Robert fondly recalled dancing with his sister when he was growing up.
“There was a tap dance we did together, and I got her in an elevator,” he told the magazine. ‘That’s the picture. I’m wearing a white fake silk [shirt] and white satin pants with tap shoes, and I think she’s wearing a sequined dress and had no front teeth.”
The artists also complimented each other in the interview.
“When I first saw Bobby dance at Juilliard, it was just breathtaking,” Patti said at the time, repeating her statement to us. “Bobby was a phenomenal, phenomenal dancer.”
Meanwhile, Robert explained how they worked through a rough patch to reconnect.
“I’m happy to say that we really continued to work [any problems], and it’s so interesting to be as close as we once were,” he said. “What happened is the result of [Patti having] being her own family and mother herself and we both grow up and want to reconnect.”
Robert concluded, “The dedication we had as children has been revived.”
In 1999, the actor made the move to TV and landed a role as Dr. Bruce Cusamano in the hit HBO series ‘The Sopranos’. He appeared in five episodes throughout the series until 2007.
The TV veteran, who guest-starred in “Sex and the City,” “Guiding Light” and “All My Children,” was also the founder of the off-Broadway MCC Theater, which confirmed the news of his passing.
The statement read: “The MCC Theater community mourns the loss of our dearly beloved and uniquely inspiring partner, colleague and dear friend, Bob LuPone, who lived fearlessly and with great curiosity, good humor, a boundless passion for connection and a whole a lot of heart. We will miss him deeply and always.”
Robert battled pancreatic cancer for three years. He was 76.