How Did Larry Neumann Jr Die?
Larry Neumann passed away at his home on the South Shore, most likely as a result of complications from Type 1 diabetes.
Sandy Borglum, his ex-wife of 18 years, revealed his death in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. There is no one who can match Neumann’s contributions to Chicago’s theater over the course of several decades.
The Famous Door Theatre Group, a significant off-Loop company, was managed by him for a period of time while he was still mostly known as an actor.
“Uncle Lar” became an appropriate moniker for him in his latter years, when he took on a parental role with younger actors and signed himself off as such.
Before the epidemic, he was a regular at post-show bar get-togethers, when he would tell anecdotes of his time working in the off-Loop theater.
During the 1980s, Neumann was a member of the Blind Parrot Productions and New Crimes Productions, both of which played in the back room of the Amethyst Grill and Tavern on North Broadway.
On stage in Charles Marowitz’s “Artaud at Rodez” in 1986, Neumann took on the character of Artaud, injecting himself and then nailing himself to a coffin; witnesses say he screamed and beat on the cover as the audience left.
The Chicago Shakespeare Company’s performance of “Othello” featured him as Iago, opposite Shira Piven’s Desdemona in 1988.
