John W. Cunningham

Actor John Cunningham died early Tuesday morning in his beloved Victorian home aside the 11th hole at Rye Golf Club.

A resident of Rye since 1969, John was a respected and much-loved working actor of stage, screen, and television for nearly 70 years. Selected after an audition with Moss Hart before he had even hired an agent, John debuted in 1960 as Zoltan and the understudy for the role of Henry Higgins at age 27 in the national and international company of "My Fair Lady." He went on to roles in original Broadway productions of Nikos in "Zorba," Peter (and the understudy for Bobby) in "Company," Geoffrey in "Rose," John Adams in "1776," Flan Kittredge in "Six Degrees of Separation," Nicholas Pym in "The Sisters Rosensweig," and Captain E.J. Smith in "Titanic." He also played many roles in off-Broadway productions, including Henry Windscape in "Quartermaine's Terms," Tony in "The Perfect Party," Pete Bermiss in "The Naked Truth," Greg in "Sylvia," Henry Ford in "Camping with Henry and Tom," and ultimately Gardner Church in "Painting Churches" in 2012 at age 80.

In these and many other roles, John's acting life centered around New York theater. But John also created many memorable roles in films like "Mystic Pizza," "Dead Poets Society," "School Ties," "For Love or Money," and many others. Two favorites involved hilarious off-screen roles as the voice on the "Be A Man" tape in the film "In and Out" and the newsreel announcer in the offbeat cult classic "Starship Troopers." His television credits included roles in "Law and Order," "30 Rock," "The Good Wife," and "Damages," among many others, and several New York-based soap operas of the 1970s. He did innumerable commercials and voice overs, including putting on an English accent for British Airways commercials in the U.S. and a print ad for a German beer photographed over a week in Milan, Italy, an adventure that entertained him for years.

The New York Times featured John in an August 1986 article entitled "John Cunningham: Ever-Employed Actor." The author described John as an "ever-reliable and ever-employed," "working actor's actor," a characterization John loved and lived, despite his oft-repeated line that he had "never worked a day in [his] life."

John was active locally as well. With his good friend and fellow actor, Frances Sternhagen, John initiated and conducted a series of shows entitled "Playwrights and Players" at the Rye High School Performing Arts Center beginning in 1989. The series, designed to raise funds for the center and its theater seating in particular, ran for at least five years and brought playwrights Wendy Wasserstein, A.R. Gurney, Romulus Linney, Robert Anderson and John Guare to the stage at the RHSPAC. The New York Times highlighted the series in an April 1994 article entitled "Wendy Wasserstein, a Voice of Authority on Life in the 90's."

Born in 1932 and raised in "eccentric" New Paltz, New York, the son of the High School Principal, John graduated from Dartmouth College before joining the Army. By fortuitous circumstances, John moved from a tour of duty in battlefield communications to one of an acting troupe performing for troops stationed in West Germany and France. After finishing his Army tour of duty, John returned to school on the GI Bill and graduated with a masters' degree from Yale Drama School before heading off to pursue an acting career in New York with his classmate and lifelong friend, Dick Cavett.

Through it all, Carolyn Cotton Cunningham, a former Rye City Council member and long-time local environmental activist, accompanied John on his adventures. His wife of nearly 70 years, Carolyn held his hand at his side as he passed. In addition to his wife, John is survived by his three children, Christopher, Catherine, and Laura, all of whom graduated from Rye High School, six grandchildren (three of whom graduated from RHS), two great grandchildren, and his extraordinary caregiver of nearly three years.

The family will host a memorial service at Rye Presbyterian Church, 882 Boston Post Road in Rye (and online via Zoom through the Church's website), on Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 1:30 pm. A brief reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to one of John's favorite charities, the Entertainment Community Fund (entertainmentcommunity.org), a national human services organization meeting the needs of people dealing with the challenges involved in a life in the arts.