Aldredge gets the business from Anne Heche in Twentieth Century, surrounded by Alec Baldwin, Dan Butler and Julie Halston

Unless you are a fan of television’s Damages (guilty), most people are unfamiliar with the work of the great Tom Aldredge.  On that show he played Glenn Close’s protector, the circumspect Uncle Pete in a subtle character portrayal that was typical of a man whose career made more of a mark on the Broadway stage, where he earned five Tony nominations.  This guy did it all, dramas, comedies and musicals.  He created the role of Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond, and was the husband of the late costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge.

For me, his voice –raspy, able to the summon the patrician or the down-and-out–looms larger than his face.  As the Narrator, his is the first you hear on the original cast album of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (like most Sondheim, pure pleasure, you can’t play it enough).  His line?  “Once upon a time.”  See Playbill magazine’s obit here.  A lovely actor, always a pleasure to make his acquaintance: RIP.