Tap Dancing Broadway Star Maurice Hines Dies at 80
Broadway dancer and actor Maurice Hines died on Friday of natural causes, his cousin told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 80. Hines starred in Broadway musicals Hot Feet and Uptown … It’s Hot—both productions he choreographed and directed by Hines—the latter of which earned him a Best Actor Tony Award nomination in 1986. He appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club alongside his brother Will & Grace actor, Gregory Hines. The brothers were reported estranged for a decade before reconciling before Gregory's death in 2003. Maurice Hines had lived at the Actors Fund Home in New Jersey for a number of years before his passing. Debbie Allen was among the stars to pay tribute to Hines, saying she would always treasure the memories they made as co-stars in Guys and Dolls. "My tears are for my inability to speak with you or to hold you. I will ALWAYS SPEAK YOUR NAME," she wrote.