Hinton Battle, who received Tony Awards (featured actor in a musical) for his performances in “Miss Saigon,” “Refined Girls” and “The Faucet Dance Child,” has died at 67. No explanation for demise was talked about.
A choreographer, director, actor and author, Battle made his Broadway debut as the unique Scarecrow on the age of 15 in “The Wiz.” He studied on the Jones-Haywood College of Ballet in Washington, DC, and the College of American Ballet in New York Metropolis and went on to star in quite a few lauded musicals, together with “Dancin’,” “Dreamgirls,” “Chicago,” “Ragtime” and the aforementioned Tony-winning productions.
Battle additionally had many roles onscreen in tv and movies, showing in “These Previous Broads,” “Touched By An Angel,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Smash” and alongside Beyonce and Eddie Murphy within the movie adaptation of “Dreamgirls.”
In 2017, Battle, alongside Yoshimoto Kogyo, based the Hinton Battle Dance Academy (HBDA) in Tokyo to put together college students for a profession within the leisure business.
He has choreographed the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, and has himself been the recipient of a number of awards together with an NAACP Picture Award, Fred Astaire Award, Ira Aldridge Award, Planet Connection Award and the Amas 2014 Rosie Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of extraordinary accomplishment within the theatrical arts.
Debbie Allen, who alerted many to his passing on social media, wrote, “As we speak I honor Hinton Battle, my pricey pal who left us to bounce and sing in God’s Ensemble final evening. He fought this battle to dwell and be artistic impacting audiences and younger individuals throughout the globe. Allow us to at all times maintain him excessive in our hearts and in our thoughts’s eye and eternally communicate his identify.”
