Ken Page, the Broadway star who portrayed Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas, has died at the age of 70

Ken Page, the beloved baritone who starred in Broadway's “Cats” and “The Wiz” and voiced Oogie Boogie in the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” died Monday. He was 70.

Talent agent Todd M. Eskin and Page's close friend and producer Dorian Hannaway confirmed his death to the Times on Tuesday. Details about the cause were initially not known.

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Hannaway first announced Page's death on Monday, writing on Facebook that the Broadway veteran had “moved on to the next show.” Another of Page's agents, Lance Kirkland, told TMZ that Page died “very peacefully” at his home in St. Louis on Monday. Kirkland did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment Tuesday.

The actor enjoyed a decades-long career on the stage, playing the cowardly lion in “The Wiz” and the cat handler Old Deuteronomy in the original Broadway production of “Cats” in the 1970s. But his deep voice may be best recognized as that of the amorphous Boogeyman in Henry Selick and Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. He often reprized the role of Oogie Boogie in person and via voice at Disneyland and Walt Disney World for Halloween and related holiday events.

Page was born in St. Louis on January 20, 1954, and began his stage career in the chorus of the Muny, also known as the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater, before moving to New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1975 as Lion in the original production of The Wiz. In 1976, he starred in the first Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls with an all-black cast, playing Nicely-Nicely. Two years later, he appeared on the Great White Way in “Ain't Misbehavin',” the Tony Award-winning musical that paid tribute to 1920s and 1930s Harlem, and returned to the role in a 1989 production Besides he directed an anniversary production of “Ain't Misbehavin'” locally at the Cabrillo Music Theater in Thousand Oaks.

He returned to Broadway in 1982 for “Cats” and in 1999 for “It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues.”

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On screen, Page notably played nightclub owner Max Washington in the Oscar-winning film “Dreamgirls” and had several guest roles in television series such as “Sable,” “Family Matters,” “Charmed” and “Touched by an Angel.” as children's programs, for which he worked as a speaker. He also portrayed King Gator in Disney's 1989 animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven.

In later years, Page developed and performed his cabaret singing show “Page by Page” and wrote, directed and starred in various regional and touring productions.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.