Mark Fredric Baker (October 2, 1946 – August 13, 2018) was an American actor. He was best known for the title role in

Harold Prince Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. One of the foremost figures in 20th century America ...

's revival of ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'', for which he received a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

nomination, and his portrayal of Otto Kringelein in the international tour of ''

Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America. Grand Hotel may refer to: Hotels Africa * Grande Hotel Beir ...

''.

Early life

Mark Fredric Baker was born in

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its s ...

on October 2, 1946, to parents Francis Tweedie and Aretta Sue Swayne. Baker attended

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

and

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

. He trained for the stage at the

Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is a full-time professional conservatory for actors in New York City. First operational from 1915 to 1927, the school re-opened in 1928 and has been active ever since. It is the birthplace of th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Baker made his professional acting debut portraying Linus Van Pelt in ''

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' is a 1967 musical with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and (in a 1999 revision) Andrew Lippa. It is based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip ''Peanuts''. The musical ...

'' in a 1970

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production. In November 1971, Baker appeared at the Mercer-O'Casey Theatre playing the Boy in ''Love Me, Love My Children''. Baker made his

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

debut in November 1972 playing Cook in ''

Via Galactica ''Via Galactica'' is a rock musical with a book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, lyrics by Gore, and music by Galt MacDermot. It marked the Broadway debut of actor Mark Baker. Originally entitled ''Up!'', it offers a futuristic story of soc ...

'', a musical which, having lost nearly $1 million, is considered one of the worst

flops In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...

in Broadway history. Baker appeared on Broadway again in 1974 in the title role of ''

'', a performance which earned him a

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway theatre, Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945� ...

and a nomination for the

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been given since 1947, but the nominees who did not win have only been publicly announced since 1956. Winner and ...

. From 1990 to 1991, Baker appeared as Otto Kringelein in the Broadway international tour of ''

'' at venues throughout the United States,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and received a

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

for his performance at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

. Other venues at which Baker has performed include

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

and what was then referred to as the

Martin Beck Theatre The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish and ...

. More recently he appeared on a studio recording of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's ''

Tip-Toes ''Tip-Toes'' is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. It centers on a vaudeville act composed of Tip-Toes, her brother and her uncle, who try to pass her off as an aristocrat ...

'' in 2001. In 1976, Baker appeared in the romantic adventure film ''

Swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

''. The following year, he supplied the voice acting for Raggedy Andy in the animated film '' Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure''. Baker served as assistant director to

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

in the 1977 film '' Valentino''. Baker also appeared in the 1982 film ''Smithereens'', credited as Roger Jett.

Personal life and death

Baker married actress and designer Patricia Britton, though the marriage ended in divorce. Baker died on August 13, 2018 in Cumberland. He devoted the last twenty years of his life to restoring and operating that city's Embassy Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Mark 1946 births 2018 deaths Male actors from Maryland Carnegie Mellon University alumni Wittenberg University alumni Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre alumni Actors from Cumberland, Maryland American male stage actors American male film actors 20th-century American male actors