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Show Park City melodrama veteran, Coleman Creel Jr., dies at 49 Actor Coleman ( reel Jr . whose career carried him from Park City's Silver Wheel melodramas to feature films, died of cancer on March 31. He was 49. Creel began his acting career at the Egyptian Theatre (then called the Silver Wheel) in 1965 when a theater company began presenting melodramas. Virginia Santy, who managed the theater, said Creel started as the hero, then became the villain in plays for two or three years. "He played right to the audience," she said. "By the time he was through, people were just hating him. They would go up to Park City to torment the villain." She remembered that Creel put "his heart and soul" into his mips "Hp was a very fine actor and a likeable guy." .Creel last returned to Park City, in a way. when the 1984 U.S. Film and Video Festival screened the independent film "Summer Spell." Creel played one of the uncles at a family reunion guarding an old secret. He also appeared in such features as "Harry in Your Pocket" (with James Coburn, Walter Pidgeon and "Whiffs" (with Eddie Albert and Elliott Gould ) . Coleman Drake Creel Jr. was born May 16, 1934 to Coleman D. and Henrietta Duncan Creel. He married Susan Cox and was later divorced. He was employed by the Utah State Tax Commission Com-mission for 19 years. He performed at various theaters, including Salt i.ake's Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Denver's Country Dinner Playhouse. Florida's Naples Dinner Theatre and the Derby Dinner Playhouse in St. Louis. His television credits included, "The California Gold Rush," "Eight is Enough," "Mark Twain's America," "The Last of the Mohicans." "Mountain Man," "Side by Side," and "Incident at Crestridge" (filmed in Park City). Cole is survived by a son, Matthew; parents, of Salt Lake; brother Lyle and sister-in-law Emma, of West Valley City; niece Kelly: and many, many friends. A memorial service was held Tuesday at the Babcock Theater on the University of l't;ih campus. |
