Philip Bosco, Tony-Winning Actor and ‘Working Girl’ Star, Dies at 88

The veteran character actor appeared in more than 50 Broadway productions

philip bosco
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Philip Bosco, a Tony and Emmy-winning character actor who also starred in such movies as “Working Girl,” died Monday at age 88, according to his grandson Luke Bosco.

Bosco received the first of his six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, the 1960 drama “Rape of the Belt,” and his last for a 2004 revival of “Twelve Angry Men.” He won in 1989 for playing an outrageous opera company head in the comedy “Lend Me a Tenor.”

He also appeared in more than 50 Broadway productions over his storied career.

Though he told the New York Times in 1986 that he had turned down a seven-year contract with a Hollywood studio early in his career because he did not want to live in California, he did appear in many movies starting in the 1980s.

Bosco had small but crucial roles in films like Mike Nichols’ 1988 comedy “Working Girl,” where he played the corporate honcho who fires Sigourney Weaver’s scheming executive and hires Melanie Griffith’s ambitious secretary instead.

His other big-screen credits included Woody Allen’s 1997 film “Deconstructing Harry,” 1983’s “Trading Places,” the 1986 drama “Children of a Lesser God” and the 1997 rom-com “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

He also made frequent appearances on TV, from soap operas like “Ryan’s Hope” and “As the World Turns” to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in which he had a recurring role as a judge. In 1987, he won a Daytime Emmy for an “ABC Afterschool Special” called “Read Between the Lines.”

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