Louis Mattioli

Louis Mattioli, a native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, began performing as a teenager and opened for many singers of the mid-20th century, including Diana Ross & the Supremes and Sonny & Cher. He then attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (during which he was very successful in Milwaukee’s theatre scene), and shortly thereafter moved to New York, where he was cast in the 1977 Broadway revival of Hair.

In addition to acting, Mattioli enjoyed a career as a book writer (he co-wrote the book for the stage adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s movie musical State Fair with Tom Briggs), a director, and a choreographer. In 1987, Mattioli was hired at the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E) as a viewer relations officer and three years later, he was promoted to the role of publicist, a position for which he was in charge of promoting performing arts and drama programming. Mattioli died suddenly on December 1, 1992, at the age of 38.