Carl Anderson, Judas In 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' Dies

wftv.com ^ | 02/24/2004 | staff

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

The actor-singer who played Judas in the film and stage versions of "Jesus Christ: Superstar" has died.

According to the Virginia paper Lynchburg News & Advance, Carl Anderson died in Los Angeles Monday after a battle with leukemia. He was 58.

Anderson was a Lynchburg native. According to the paper, he regularly returned to his hometown to perform and conduct workshops.

According to Broadway.com, Anderson made his Broadway debut as Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar" -- written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice -- in 1971. He landed the film role of Judas for the film version, opposite Ted Neely as Jesus, six months later.

The film role earned Anderson Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Most Promising Newcomer -- Male in 1974. The stage role a earned Anderson a NAACP Award for Theater, reported the Lynchburg News & Advance.

Anderson reprised his role as Judas for the 20th anniversary tour of the stage version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in 1992, and he embarked on another tour of the musical with Sebastian Bach in the role of Jesus (pictured with Anderson, above) just before being diagnosed with leukemia.

Anderson's other Broadway roles included "Play On!" and he can be heard on the concept recording of Frank Wildhorn's "The Civil War."

On film, Anderson also appeared in "The Color Purple," and he guest starred on several television shows including "The Rockford Files," "Magnum, "P.I.," "Starsky & Hutch" and "The Incredible Hulk."

Anderson is survived by his mother, wife, son, two stepdaughters, six sisters and three brothers. A memorial fund has been set up in Anderson's name at the Lynchburg Academy of Fine Arts, at 600 Main St., Lynchburg, VA 24504. Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc.

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[cyncooper]

LOL

I posted my preference for Broadway Herod over movie Herod before seeing your post.

Oh, well! That is my least favorite scene from the movie.

[EllaMinnow]

I missed the opportunty to see Ted Neely in the revival tour. My biggest problem with Neely in the 70s version isn't really his voice, it's just that he looks so much like my husband did when I met him back in the 70s.

[Agamemnon]

Judas is the central character in the movie. I had a religion teacher in high school refer to the movie as "The Gospel According to Judas." It's about as apt a description as any I've come across.

Well stated. JCS leaves Christ in the grave with pretty funereal orchestral music.... just where Satan wanted Him, and in his pride mistakenly thought he could keep Him. The hope of eternal life is found in Christ's sacrifice followed by Christ's resurrection.

Christ conquered death and the power of sin with His resurrection.

Thankfully Mel Gibson's "Passion" doesn't miss this all-important point, the importance of which was completely lost on Webber and Rice when they wrote JCS.

[BoomerBob]

LOL... I'm not sure anyone looked good in the 70s :)

[Junior]

I always took the last scenes, with Christ on the cross literally far above the world, to be symbolic of his rising and entering into heaven.

[EllaMinnow]

LOL... I'm not sure anyone looked good in the 70s :)

I did. At least I think I did. It was the 80s that wreaked havoc on my fashion sense! :)

[Agamemnon]

I always took the last scenes, with Christ on the cross literally far above the world, to be symbolic of his rising and entering into heaven.

Rising, yet still affixed to the cross? The stage show certainly leaves Him merely dead and makes no hint of His resurrection whatsoever.

[cyncooper]

was completely lost on Webber and Rice when they wrote JCS.

I disagree. When Judas sings the title song during the crucifixion, he is addressing a transfigured and risen Christ.

[cyncooper]

And what about lines like:

Neither you Simon, nor the 50,000
Nor the Romans
Nor the Jews
Nor Judas, nor the twelve
Nor the priests, nor the scribes,
Nor doomed Jerusalem itself
Understand what power is
Understand what glory is
Understand at all
To conquer death you only have to die

[Intolerant in NJ]

I'm surprised that there wasn't an outcry over Judas being portrayed by a Black man...you bet - clearly an attempt by the producers to protray all blacks as untrustworthy and traitorous - where was the NAACP when it counted?......

[Agamemnon]

I disagree. When Judas sings the title song during the crucifixion, he is addressing a transfigured and risen Christ.

How can anyone correctly make the resurrection and the crucifixion as being any kind of simultaneous event? Jesus Himself predicted and fulfilled His resurrection on the third day after His death on the cross.

[Agamemnon]

To conquer death you only have to die

Do you not recognize what a foolish lyric that is? We supposedly all conquer death by simply dying. Where is the scriptural basis for that?

To conquer death itself one must rise again from the dead. Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead.

Again, the "gospel according to Judas" in the form of JCS fails in its message.

[cyncooper]

I said during the musical, Judas sings to him as he's being nailed to the cross. BUT, I didn't say the resurrection is depicted as taking place simultaneously. The words to "Jesus Christ Superstar" are set in present day. So the artistic conceit is that while Christ is being crucified Judas is debating the wisdom of when He came down to earth to become man at that particular point in time. And the Christ he sings to is glorified and radiant, not the dirty and disheviled Jesus we've been watching in the play.

"If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation"

See? I disagree that the musical left him in the grave literally.

[cyncooper]

You don't believe in life everlasting in heaven? By way of Christ?

[Redpower]

Oh, too bad! I saw the Sebastian Bach/Carl Anderson show in January 2003. It was awesome.

I grew up listening to JCS. My parents had the Ian Anderson (of Deep Purple) version on album. My sister and I would act out JCS with our stuffed animals. Kermit the Frog was Jesus, because he had velcro on his hands and feet and could be affixed in a crucifixion pose on the backs of upholstered chairs. Holly Hobby was Mary Mags.

[Agamemnon]

You don't believe in life everlasting in heaven? By way of Christ?

Of course I do. I doubt whether Rice or Webber do.

Do you?

[Agamemnon]

I disagree that the musical left him in the grave literally.

I can appreciate your desire to want to defend feelings you have for JCS. Something about the work grips you and I'll grant you that.

It is nonetheless a grossly corrupted rendering of the story of the sacrifice of Christ, and mis-depiction of such persons as Mary Magdalene. Respectfully, you are deceiving yourself as you allow the wide berth for distortion that this work is, even as you are content to let corruption reside behind the fiction of all fictions: artistic conceit.

[Redpower]

Ian Gillan, rather. Ian Anderson sings for Jethro Tull, and would be a very different kind o' Jesus.

[Mamzelle]

I've been thinking a lot about JCSuperstar myself--I intend to compare these two movies closely later on.

And I remember much that should have been objectionable to the very ones claiming that Gibson's "Passion" is antisemitic. Caiaphas, Annas, and Herod were all most unsympathetic, and the crowd was "Crucify him" and "We have no king but Caesar"

But I do not believe that there is any sincere worry that this movie is antisemitic--I believe it is a phony concern to score political points.