The cast. Damon Runyon's Guys & Dolls at the National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 August 1982.
David Healy (Nicely Nicely Johnson) (15 May 1929-25 October 1995) was an American actor who appeared in British and American television shows. In 1983, Healy received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Guys and Dolls during the 1982 theatre season. His performance of 'Nicely Nicely Johnson' was praised as "show-stopping" as he sang "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat". He performed a mid-show encore each night. In late 1980s he played the character of Buddy Plummer in the original London run of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Healy died following a heart operation on October 25, 1995 in London
Julie Covington (Sarah) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita. In 1971, she was cast in the original London production of Godspell at The Roundhouse, alongside David Essex, Jeremy Irons and Marti Webb. A recording of the production, featuring Covington's lead vocal on the track "Day by Day", was released in 1972. She was then cast as Janet Weiss in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984 Covington appeared regularly in the companies of the National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. She starred in the 1982 National Theatre production of Guys and Dolls, playing Sister Sarah opposite Ian Charleson's Sky Masterson. Russell Davies said that her performance "is of such a special timbre that she isn't easily matched."
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942-29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in Pennies from Heaven (1978), The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Mermaids (1990), and Super Mario Bros. (1993), and supporting performances in Brazil (1985), Hook (1991), Nixon (1995), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), A Christmas Carol (2009), Made in Dagenham (2010), and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). He also directed two feature films: The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and Rainbow (1996). He was described by Trey Barrineau of USA Today as "ha[ving] a knack for playing Americans better than most American actors could." Hoskins retired from acting in 2012 due to Parkinson's disease, with which he had been diagnosed the previous year, and died from pneumonia on 29 April 2014, at age 71.
Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie, CBE is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984-1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989-1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009-2013). She has twice won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; for the 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls and the 1993 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In 1971 McKenzie married American actor-director Jerry Harte. He died in 2018.
Ian Charleson (11 August 1949-6 January 1990) was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film Gandhi. Charleson was a noted actor on the British stage as well, with critically acclaimed leads in Guys and Dolls, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Fool for Love, and Hamlet, among many others. He performed numerous Shakespearean roles, and in 1991 the annual Ian Charleson Awards were established, particularly in honour of his final Hamlet. The awards reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors aged under 30. Charleson was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1986, and died in 1990 at the age of 40. He requested that it be announced after his death that he had died of AIDS, in order to publicise the condition. This was the first celebrity death in the United Kingdom openly attributed to AIDS, and the announcement helped to promote awareness and acceptance of the disease.
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, CBE (playing Mimi) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in the 1970s before appearing in various theatre productions in the United Kingdom. Staunton has performed in a variety of plays and musicals in London, winning four Olivier Awards; three for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in the musicals Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, and Gypsy, and one for Best Supporting Performance for her work in both A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green. Her other appearances on stage includes The Beggar's Opera, The Wizard of Oz, Uncle Vanya, Guys and Dolls, Entertaining Mr Sloane, and Good People. She has been nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards throughout her stage career. She appeared in two revivals of Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre; the first (this one) in 1982 in which she met her husband Jim Carter (playing Big Jule).
James (Jim) Carter and Imelda Staunton met in January 1982 during rehearsals of Richard Eyre's Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre.
