Douglas Howard Sills (born July 5, 1960) is an American actor and singer.
He made his professional stage acting debut with principal roles in the national tours of Into the Woods and The Secret Garden. He is most well-known for his leading roles in the Broadway production and national tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel, the Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, and the national tour of The Addams Family.
Early life
Sills was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Rhoda (Nemeth) and Archie Sills, and grew up in the suburb of Franklin, in a Jewish household. He was friends (and did amateur theatrics and films) with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.
Douglas Sills opened in his first Broadway show on November 9, 1997. Continuing the role in three other versions of the show, Sills received a Tony Award nomination. He portrayed the foppish hero in SP 1.0 (The Original Broadway Production, starring Terrence Mann, Christine Andreas and Gilles Chiason), SP 2.0 (the revised Broadway production, starring Rachel York and Rex Smith), and for several months in the national tour. Although rumored as playing the title role in Wildhorn's Dracula, the Musical, Sills opted out (despite doing a recording demo), and Tom Hewitt portrayed the gothic character at the premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2001. He played Orin Scrivello and several other roles in the 2003 Broadway revival cast of Little Shop of Horrors.
In 2004, Sills joined the Broadway-bound Chicago production of Monty Python's Spamalot. However, before the production began, Sills left due to reported "major script changes." In early 2005, production plans were announced for Wildhorn's new musical Cyrano de Bergerac, from the same team that helped launch his career with The Scarlet Pimpernel. The title role was written specifically for Sills, however, producers dropped plans for the show in spring 2006 without explanation. A studio-concept recording was planned, starring Sills, Linda Eder and Rob Evan, but plans for it also quickly fell through.
In 2009, Sills starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth at the Encores! New York City Center production of Music in the Air, a long-forgotten Kern-Hamerstein musical from the 1930s. The concert-style version ran February 5 through February 8. Sills assumed the role of Gomez Addams in the national tour of The Addams Family in September 2011 until the company's closing on December 30, 2012.
From March 27 to April 12, 2013, Sills took on the role of Jack in Long Wharf Theatre's production of William Mastrosimone's Ride the Tiger.
Sills played Walter Burns in La Jolla Playhouse's production of His Girl Friday from May 28 to June 30, 2013.
Sills appeared on Broadway beginning in April 2015, playing an aging orchestra conductor in the comedy Living on Love, written by Joe DiPietro, starring Renee Fleming, Jerry O'Connell and Anna Chlumsky.
He appeared in the new musical Dave at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2018, in the role of Chief of Staff Bob Alexander. The musical has music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and the book by Benjamin and Thomas Meehan and is based on the 1993 film Dave.
As of 2022, Sills plays Monsieur Baudin in HBO's The Gilded Age.
Personal life
Sills is gay. He said in 2015, "I’ve been out since the beginning of my career—I was never in." Sills met then-partner Todd Murray in 1994 while touring with The Secret Garden, and the relationship ended in 2013.
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Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
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! Year
! Association
! Category
! Project
! Result
! Ref.
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| rowspan="4" |1998
|Tony Award
|Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
| rowspan="4" |The Scarlet Pimpernel
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|Drama Desk Award
|Outstanding Actor in a Musical
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| colspan="2" |Theatre World Award
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|Outer Critics Circle Award
|Outstanding Actor in a Musical
|
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|2015
|Drama League Awards
|Distinguished Performance Award
|Living on Love
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| align="center"| 2023
| Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series
| The Gilded Age
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| align="center"|
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