Award-Winning Actor Dies of Rare Form of Cancer: Gavin Creel Was 48

Celebrated actor, singer/songwriter, and Broadway performer Gavin Creel died Monday, Sept. 30, after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer called metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. Creel, who was best known for his roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair, She Loves Me and Hello, Dolly!, was 48. 

The Tony Award winner’s death was confirmed by his partner, fellow actor Alex Temple Ward, via a publicist to The New York Times. Creel was diagnosed in July 2024 with metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, which develops in the bones or soft tissues of the body including muscles, fat, blood vessels, and nerves, as per the Mayo Clinic.

The theater star was born in Findlay, Ohio, and fell in love with musical theater in his sophomore year of high school. He would go on to make his Broadway debut in 2002, starring opposite Sutton Foster in the stage adaptation of Thoroughly Modern Millie as Jimmy Smith. The performance would earn Creel his first Tony Award nomination. In 2009, Creel was nominated for a second time after playing Claude in the 2009 revival of Hair. In 2017, Creel won his first Tony for his role as Cornelius Hackl in the revival of Hello, Dolly! which also starred Bette Midler, Beanie Feldstein, and David Hyde Pierce.

Creel was a bright star on Broadway, also appearing in the 2016 Tony-nominated revival of She Loves Me, a 2019 run of Waitress with Sara Bareilles, and the 2022 production of Into the Woods that would go on to win him a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Creel also led performances of The Book of Mormon from 2012 to 2015, eventually winning the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for the original West End production of the show. 

Andrew Rannells, whom Creel replaced in The Book of Mormon after Rannells left the production’s original run in 2011, took to Instagram to mourn the loss of his friend and colleague. “I fell in love with Gavin Creel in 1998 the moment I met him,” he wrote on social media. “I was certainly not alone in my instant affection for him. Everyone fell in love with Gavin.”

“Our friendship grew and changed and was challenged and became stronger over the decades. We were living big, exciting lives at times but the moments we were happiest, the moments we were most ourselves, were the quiet ones,” Rannells wrote. “We called each other ‘Soulmate’ or ‘Soulie’ for short. It was a joke that became a nickname that, in some ways, became a truth that made us both smile when we said it. My heart feels incredibly empty today. I know I’m not alone in this feeling because again, everyone fell in love with Gavin.” 

Fellow The Book of Mormon alum Josh Gad also paid tribute to Creel. “Sometimes, I don’t have the right words to describe my sadness. Today is one of those days,” Gad wrote on Instagram. “We have lost someone far too young, far too early still in his journey and far too impactful to our creative community. My heart breaks for his family and his closest friends. This is just not fair. We will never forget you.”

Midler also shared a message about her “fantastic” Hello, Dolly! co-star on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “I looked forward to working with him every single night. He was fantastic. I can’t believe he’s gone. What a loss.”