Obituaries - March 10, 2000

John Colicos; Shakespearean, Television, Film Actor

John Colicos, 71, a Canadian Shakespearean actor best known as the villain in the television series “Battlestar Galactica.” A native of Toronto, Colicos at the age of 22 became the youngest actor ever to play King Lear at London’s Old Vic theater. He joined Canada’s Stratford Festival, where he won critical acclaim in the same role in 1964. He also earned strong reviews for portraying Winston Churchill in the London and New York stage productions of “The Soldiers” and in 1993 for his portrayal of the Yiddish actor Zaretsky in “Conversations With My Father” at Hollywood’s Doolittle Theatre. On screen, Colicos first won notice as Thomas Cromwell in Richard Burton’s 1969 film “Anne of a Thousand Days,” and went on to play important roles in “Red Sky at Morning,” “Doctors’ Wives,” “Raid on Rommel,” “Scorpio,” “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Shadow Dancing.” But he earned the most widespread recognition for his long-running television roles as Mikkos Cassadine in the soap opera “General Hospital” and as the evil Count Baltar on the 1978-80 television series “Battlestar Galactica.” Colicos reprised the Baltar role for three motion pictures linked to the “Galactica” science fiction series. On Monday in Toronto after a series of heart attacks.