Hinton Battle (November 29, 1956- January 30, 2024) was an American actor, singer, dancer, and dance instructor. He won three Tony Awards on three nominations for (Sophisticated Ladies) in 1981, (The Tap Dance Kid) in 1984 and (Miss Saigon) 1991. In 1975 he was the first to play the Scarecrow for The Wiz.
Biography[]
Battle was born in Neubrücke, Germany. After three years of studying ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet, he received a scholarship to The School of American Ballet where he studied until the age of fifteen under George Balanchine. On October 21, 1974, the new musical The Wiz opened at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland and then moved to Broadway's Majestic Theatre with a new cast on January 5, 1975. This is where Hinton made his Broadway debut starring as the Scarecrow. He took over the role from Stu Gilliam couldn't continue the role.
On Quantum Leap, he played Thames, the evil Observer from the future, in the final installment of the Evil Leaper trilogy of episodes. Notably, he guest starred as Sweet the jazz demon, in Once More, with Feeling, Buffy The Vampire Slayer's musical episode in which his spell forces the characters to sing their biggest secrets and fears. Hinton's other Broadway starring roles include Dancin', Dreamgirls, Sophisticated Ladies for which he won his first Tony Award, Chicago and Ragtime , which garnered rave reviews from the Chicago press and earned him an Ira Aldridge Award. His role in The Tap Dance Kid also earned Hinton a second Tony Award, the NAACP Award and the Fred Astaire Award, and Miss Saigon for which he won his third Tony Award.
He served as Associate Choreographer on the 65th and 66th Annual Academy Awards with Debbie Allen. Hinton's most recent creation, a dance form called Swop that combines swing and hip-hop, was performed on the highly rated Dancing with the Stars in 2006.
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