Patti LuPone recalls her brother Robert LuPone’s “unparalleled” dancing just days after he died of pancreatic cancer.
“My brother Bobby was an unparalleled dancer,” the Broadway legend, 73, told Page Six exclusively on Monday.
“And it all started when he saw me in a hula skirt at a dance recital.” I was four, and he was seven.”
The sister-brother duo was accepted to The Juilliard School during their adolescence. Patti was a theatre student, while Robert, who was three years ahead, studied dance.
The actress mentioned that a “life-sized picture” of her brother dancing in Jose Limon’s modern ballet, “There is a Time,” was displayed in the school’s photo gallery.
“A few years later, as a theatre student, I would walk by it proudly as well as in awe,” the “Evita” star recalled.
Robert received a BFA in dance from Juilliard in 1968, and his talents landed him a role in “A Chorus Line,” for which he received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
In an interview with Playbill in 1998, Robert recalled dancing with his sister as a child.
“We did a tap dance together, and I had her in a lift,” he told the magazine. “That’s the image. I’m wearing a white fake silk [shirt] and white satin pants with tap shoes, and she’s wearing a sequin dress with no front teeth.”
During the interview, the performers also complimented one another.
“It was just mind-blowing when I first saw Bobby dance at Juilliard,” Patti said at the time, repeating her statement to us. “Bobby was a fantastic, fantastic dancer.”
Meanwhile, Robert described how they overcame adversity to reconnect.
“I’m happy to say that we’ve truly worked through [any issues], and it’s so interesting to be so close again,” he said. “What happened was due to [Patti] having her own family and being a mother herself, as well as both of us maturing and wanting to reconnect.”
“The devotion we had as kids has been rekindled,” Robert concluded.
In 1999, the actor made the transition to television, playing Dr. Bruce Cusamano on the hit HBO series “The Sopranos.” Until 2007, he appeared in five episodes of the series.
The television veteran, who appeared in episodes of “Sex and the City,” “Guiding Light,” and “All My Children,” was also the founder of the off-Broadway MCC Theatre, which confirmed his death.
“The MCC Theater community mourns the loss of our much loved and uniquely inspiring partner, colleague, and dear friend, Bob LuPone, who lived fearlessly and with great curiosity, good humour, a boundless passion for connection, and a whole lot of heart,” according to the statement. We will miss him terribly and forever.”
For three years, Robert battled pancreatic cancer. He was 76.
