We didn’t do it often in later years, but we enjoyed being on stage together. We could speak in shorthand-while the rest of the company wondered what the hell we were talking about-but the performance emerged richer and more layered. But I knew the tricks-I rarely let him get away with the easy choice. It was no secret that I directed him in many of his best parts. And there were countless roles in Nashville, Dayton, Birmingham and in Florida. It threatens to become just a list- with 22 seasons at the Tibbits- playing over 70 roles. Or on the flip side which we didn’t see nearly enough: Mass Appeal. He delighted in (and was delightful) in farce: … Forum, Charley’s Aunt, Footlight Frenzy, Lucky Stiff and Lend Me a Tenor. He excelled at anything that could show off his felicity with words and bring out the native born Brit: Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Andrew Wyke in Sleuth, Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit. But he finally found the roles: Juan Peron in Evita, The Governor in Best Little Whorehouse, Michael in I Do I Do, Honore in Gigi. A leading man’s voice in a character actor’s body.
Bobb had one of the best instruments I knew. And on Saturday morning, May 3, just days shy of his 56th birthday, Bobb died peacefully at U of M hospital in Ann Arbor. But by the beginning of 2008, it was a different story. He was back onstage, writing, and feeling great. The Bobb I knew best returned, and we did some of our best work together. He stopped drinking and there was enough liver left to produce a near miraculous recovery. Instead, with the help of some of his best friends, he fought back. I drove him home from Florida, where he was about to go into rehearsal, to let him end his days in Coldwater.
Since the fall of 2005, Bobb was fighting liver disease. One of the most beloved actors in the history of Tibbits Summer Theatre, Bobb James, will not be appearing this summer.
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