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Gerry Becker (April 11, 1951 – April 13, 2019)[1] was an American theatre, film, and television actor.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri to a family of priests, Becker studied for the priesthood with Jesuits for three years before dropping out. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri and a master's degree in theatre from Saint Louis University.[2]
He was associated with Remains Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company in the Chicago, Illinois area.
He had the lead role in Bernard Slade's Romantic Comedy at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, Illinois in 1981. Mary Yaney of The Herald of Crystal Lake, Illinois noted that he did an "excellent job" as the "self-centered, but loveable writer".[3]
He appeared in a National Jewish Theatre production of Grown Ups by Jules Feiffer in 1987. A review noted, "Becker slices on the cutting edge in everything he does. All the empathy is blanched from the character leaving it less admirable. That is the character, for Becker's piercing performance is just fine".[4]
In 1991, he appeared in Northlight Theatre's production of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People reads, "To his great credit, Gerry Becker, as [Thomas] Stockman, delivers [a] famous outcry with genuine passion and oratorical skill despite being costumed in a bright green tail coat so that he looks like a refugee from A Christmas Carol".[5]
In 1992, he appeared as Mr. Wagner in Raymond J. Barry's Once in Doubt with Remains Theatre Company in Chicago. Variety's review noted that "Becker is a bit too meek as the curious interloper".[6] A review in The Times of Munster, Indiana criticized the production, but praised the acting, noting that Becker and his costar William Petersen "give as good a they get in this bizarre triangle" and that "the trio keep the script taut and still extract a good deal of humor from the dialogue. So even when everything they say seems arbitrary and stilted they grab us with the sheer force of their acting".[7] May found his acting "beautiful".[8]
He performed on Broadway in the Steppenwolf Theatre production of The Song of Jacob Zulu in 1993.[8]
In 1995, he starred in the off-Broadway production of three one-act dark comedy plays, Death Defying Acts, by David Mamet (An Interview), Elaine May (Hotline), and Woody Allen (Central Park West), at the Variety Arts Theatre in New York, Stamford, and Philadelphia.[2][9] A review of the production's run at Stamford Center read, "Gerry Becker makes Howard a perfect Allen type, a failed writer who is better in the kitchen than in the boudoir".[10] Theatre critic Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press criticized Mamet's writing but said that Becker "as Cheshire catlike inquisitor, and Paul Guilfoyle [...] lob Mamet's lines back and forth like a couple of tennis pros. Neither man drops the ball".[11] In his review of the production, Vince Canby of The New York Times wrote that Becker's and Paul Guilfoyle's performances in Mamet's play were "acted to dry, caustic perfection" and that in Allen's play that Becker and Guilfoyle were "splendid as the would-be guilty parties in liaisons that inevitably fail".[12] Howard Kissel of Daily News wrote, "Gerry Becker is uproarious as the manic depressive" and "Becker brings a believable intensity to the hotline volunteer in May's play".[13][14]
In addition to his theatre work, he appeared in many films including Donnie Brasco, sometimes in a leading role, as in Man on the Moon.
Becker began drinking in his adolescence but was sober 10 years in 1995.[8]
Becker died on April 13, 2019, due to complications from diabetes.[1]
He had a wife, Lucy, who he met while performing in a show at the Court Theatre.[8]
