Actor-Singer Roderick Cook Dies

LOS ANGELES - Roderick Cook, the actor and singer whose musical revue ``Oh Coward!'' ran for more than a decade, has died in Los Angeles, apparently of a heart attack. He was 58.

Cook created ``Oh Coward!,'' which used 40 of Noel Coward's most memorable songs, off-Broadway in 1970. His succinct and unsentimental overview of Sir Noel's work brought Cook a Tony-award nomination in 1987. By that time, his production had been seen in cities from London to Kuala Lumpur.

Coward himself saw the staged resurrection of his bawdy women and droll men a few months before he died in 1973 and admitted that he had left the theater whistling his own melodies.

Cook retired from the show after it was filmed as a television special in 1980, but continued to direct touring companies.

Born in England, Cook appeared in Shakespearean repertory and British TV before coming to the United States in 1961 and making his Broadway debut in ``Kean.'' He also was seen on stage in ``The Man Who Came to Dinner'' and with Lauren Bacall in ``Woman of the Year.''

He appeared in such films as ``Amadeus,'' ``9 1/2 Weeks'' and ``Garbo Talks.''