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, has died. He was 70.
Page died peacefully Monday at his home in St. Louis, his manager, Todd M. Eskin, announced.
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In his Broadway debut, Page stepped in as a replacement to play the Lion in the original 1975-79 production of The Wiz, and he won a Drama Desk Award and drew standing ovations when he sang “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.”
The baritone also originated the role of Old Deuteronomy in 1982 in the original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats; starred in the original 1978-82 Broadway production of Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, winner of the Tony Award for best musical; 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 St. Louis, where he graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School. He attended Fontbonne College in Clayton, Missouri, on a full scholarship, then moved to New York to pursue a career in the theater.
He played Joe “Cheesecake” Tyson on the 1987-88 ABC series Sable.
His résumé also included such films as Harvey Fierstein’s 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.
Survivors include his mother, Gloria.
Said Alec Baldwin said in a statement: “When I first came to L.A. in 1983, I met Ken Page, who was part of a circle of friends that I knew, including Toby Keith.
“Ken was the rare combination, one of the nicest and among the most talented people I have ever met. We talked about producing an album of his club act, but it never got off the ground. We stayed in close touch always — he just texted me last week sending me sunshine and good vibes. He sent me pictures of his garden and his flowers.”
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