Ken Page, one of Broadway’s best-known actors who indelibly lent his voice to Tim Burton’s holiday film classic The nightmare before Christmas as the evil Oogie Boogie, died Monday, September 30. He was 70.

His death was announced on social media by his friend Dorian Hannaway, who wrote that he “passed away quietly and peacefully in his home.”

Born on January 20, 1954 in St. Louis, Page was determined to pursue a career on the stage as early as high school, and received a full scholarship to study musical theater at Fontbonne College in Clayton, Missouri. He began his professional career in the choir of the Muny Theater in St. Louis before making his Broadway debut in 1977 in the replacement cast of Cats like the Lion.

A more notable star turn came in the 1976 Broadway revival Boys and dollswith Page all but stealing the show as Nicely-Nicely. Then came the 1978 hit I don’t miss me and in 1982 the casting that would become his signature stage role: Page played the wise Old Deuteronomy, the elderly leader of the Jellicle cats who, along with Grizabella the Glamor Cat, is lifted to the “Heaviside Layer” and marked for rebirth in the end of musical.

Two Broadway shows would follow for Page, including a revival of I don’t miss me in 1988 (he also appeared in a recorded version of that musical for TV), and in the 1999 revue It’s nothing but the blues.

Although he would return to regional stages and cabarets throughout his life, Page also had a strong career in TV, film and video games. His film credits include 1988 Torch Song Trilogyin which he played the witty drag queen Murray, best friend of Harvey Fierstein’s Arnold; Direct-to-video from 1998 Cats recordings, revival of Old Deuteronomy; and 2006 Dream girlsin which he played Max Washington.

His TV credits were even more extensive, with roles in the 1980s and 1990s. Give Me a Break!, Family Matters, Touched by an Angel and, in 2004, Charmed.

But with his booming baritone voice, Page became a sought-after voice actor, giving memorable performances in 1989. All dogs go to heaven (he played King Gator) and the 1994 animated TV series Duckman.

His signature voice role came in 1993 with Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmasdirected by Henry Selick. As Oogie Boogie, the pocket-sized villain who terrorized Halloween Town, Page had a breathtaking scene in which he menacingly (but with a laugh in his voice) sang “Oogie Boogie’s Song” to his captive Santa Claus: “It’s hopeless/ you’re done/ You got no prayer/Cause I’m Mr. Oogie Boogie/And you ain’t going nowhere.”

He reprized the role of Oogie Boogie several times, including in video games and on the concert stage, most notably in Nightmare‘s 30th anniversary concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023.

“I am still stunned by last night’s terrible news,” he wrote Nightmare composer Danny Elfman on X. “Ken Page died suddenly. He was the one and only Oggie Boogie Man. He was simply one of the best, most generous souls I know. Full of life and overflowing with joy. Talented and then some. Ken, my friend, you will be greatly missed.”

Complete information about survivors was not immediately available.