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Ken Page, the Broadway star and voice actor who played the character Oogie Boogie The nightmare before Christmas, died at the age of 70.

Page was a prolific actor to whom he also lent his voice All dogs go to heaven and appeared opposite Beyoncé in Dream girls.

On stage he was known for the role of Ken in the Broadway production of I don’t miss me and playing Old Deuteronomy in a production of Cats that was filmed for television.

TMZ reports that Page died “very peacefully” at his home in St. Louis on September 30.

The publication quotes his representative Lance Kirkland as saying: “He was a beautiful, talented man who was larger than life. Ken was loved and adored by so many and will be so missed.”

Kenneth Page was born in St. Louis on January 20, 1954. He attended St. Bridget of Erin and St. Nicholas elementary schools, and while attending the latter he was inspired to pursue a career in theater. He studied the subject at Fontbonne College in Clayton, Missouri.

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Page made his Broadway debut in The Wizwho plays the cowardly lion. He then played Nicely-Nicely Johnson Boys and dolls and was featured in the original cast of the Fats Waller musical I don’t miss me. He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his performance, and reprized the role for a 1982 television broadcast.

That same year, Page played Old Deuteronomy in Cats, later returning to the role for the 1998 video release.

In 1993, Page got perhaps his most famous role as Oogie Boogie, the evil ogre of Halloween Town in Tim Burton’s film. The nightmare before Christmas.

In an interview with DirectConversations, Page recalled that he was initially hired only to sing “Oogie Boogie’s Song”, but then called on several characters he had previously played to also voice the dialogue.

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“At first the filmmakers were looking for someone who could just sing ‘Oogie Boogie’s Song,’ and they wanted something like a Cab Calloway-esque, Fats Waller-esque singer. Someone who could characterize the vocals,” said Page.

“So my lawyer said to Danny Elfman, ‘I know the person for you – there’s no one else who fits that description except Ken Page. He’s done these things and embodied many critters. ”

Composer Elfman and director Henry Selick then asked Page how he would do Ooogie Boogie’s speaking voice.

“I said, ‘My view of him would be somewhere between (Cowardly Lion actor) Bert Lahr and the voice of the demon. The exorcistMercedes McCambridge,” Page recalled with a laugh.

“Danny and Henry kind of looked at me and said, ‘Wow, that’s wild.’ So that was the view I gave them, saying, ‘If I go too far in either direction, you can stop me.’ So, along with Cab Calloway stuff and Fats Waller on vocals, that’s how we came up with Oogie Boogie.

In his later years Page developed and performed a cabaret show, Page by page.