Toon Hermans; Melancholic Dutch Cabaret Performer

Toon Hermans, 83, a melancholic Dutch cabaret artist known as a master of intelligent one-liners and humorous ballads. Although he made audiences roar with laughter, Hermans had a deeply philosophical side that intensified after the 1990 death of his wife of 40 years, Rietje. He was fascinated by Zen Buddhism, the contemplations of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and the lyric verse of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. “Sadness has made me wealthier than pleasure,” Hermans said in a 1997 interview. “Suffering is not senseless.” In 1993, the entertainer once left the stage in mid-performance because he couldn’t hold back tears. Born Antoine Gerard Theodore Hermans, he began his career drawing commercial ads and designing storefront displays. After winning a clown competition and starting his own theater review, he moved to Amsterdam in 1942 to perform in the companies of Dutch directors Carl Tobi and Floris Meslier. By the late 1950s, he was drawing huge audiences with his one-man show, a format virtually unknown in the Netherlands at the time. Appearing regularly until near his death, he told one interviewer on his 80th birthday: “I will never take leave. At a certain point, life will do it for me.” On April 23 in Amsterdam of a heart attack.