Mark M. Manley

Mark Michael Manley, beloved husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, and accomplished singer, dancer and actor, passed away from Alzheimer’s Disease at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, Massachusetts on February 10. Following visits and calls from family and friends, he passed with his husband by his side. Born July 10, 1954, he was 71.

Mark is the son of the late James Joseph Manley and Adeline Bartolazzi Manley of Kearny, NJ. Mark was born in Newark and was raised among a tight-knit family with Irish and Italian heritage including two older sisters, an older brother and one younger sister and many aunts, uncles and cousins. Each sister is confident she was Mark’s favorite.

Mark grew up playing with family and friends and, at times, helping his father reluctantly as a young plasterer. He graduated from St. Stephen’s Grammar School in Kearny and Essex Catholic High School in Newark. He would reminisce about his high school experience receiving sharp discipline from tough Irish Catholic brothers.

Serving as a springboard for an eventual career in theatre, just down the street from his Devon Street home was Kearny’s Halfpenny Playhouse. At that theatre and other community venues, Mark found an outlet for his own expression and enjoyed his work as a part-time teen actor in musicals such as South Pacific and The Wizard of Oz, sometimes joined by his younger sister Marjorie.

In 1972, at just eighteen years old, Mark moved to New York City to pursue a career singing, dancing and acting. It was a short distance from Kearny but a world away to Manhattan, a bold move during one of New York’s toughest decades.

Starting his young career with boyish good looks, Mark became a handsome, rugged looking man. He was a natural actor at work and even at home where a socks instantly became dog ears, paper towels became hats and sheets became togas. He was also a man of conviction with a strong sense of justice and fairness. A quick study, Mark made New York work for him covering rent with bartending, catering and housesitting jobs while beginning to land real acting roles. He was a natural tenor with what one critic called “a surprisingly sweet and mellow voice.” He liked to say he learned to dance “like a man” at New York’s legendary Phil Black Dance Studio.

In 1981, Mark began his first Broadway role at Lincoln Center and on a subsequent national tour playing Mendel in the Jerome Robbins-directed revival of Fiddler on the Roof with Herschel Bernardi. Mark ultimately performed in dozens of regional, off-Broadway and Broadway musicals and plays ranging from Jesus Christ Superstar to Call Me Madam. In Chicago, his performance as Amos Hart was called “show stopping” by a theatre reviewer. He had a range of small acting and dancing roles in television and film including cult classic The American Astronaut, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. He was a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. A small sample of his film work is available on YouTube by searching on his name.

Mark made extraordinary lifelong friends – many with fellow actors from his earliest days as a performer. Mark cultivated his friendships and a few fine relationships and became a pivotal figure for a group of treasured friends. He was a natural homebody and became a Scrabble shark. His outside social life reflected the era, dancing alongside notorious celebrities at the infamous Studio 54 and other clubs. His beloved home for decades was a five-floor walkup railroad apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It served as a happy gathering point for the many friends that loved him. Mark also lived for four years on the Lower East Side overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge and across the East River to Brooklyn.

In 2003, while performing as the insufferable Mr. Upson in North Shore Music Theatre’s performance of Mame, he was introduced to Massachusetts native David King at a post-show cast party. Despite the challenge of finding time for a first date when Mark worked every night, the unlikely pair fell in love in barely a few days. The combination of Mark in blue denim and David in a red sports car worked its magic as they toured Boston’s North Shore. They began a long-distance Massachusetts-to-New York relationship that lasted nine years before the two purchased a home together in Boston’s Charlestown Navy Yard. Their love for each other was profound.

Mark supported himself for more than 40 years as a working actor. Though his career slowed following the move to Boston, he and David built a life together with travel, friends and family. Mark tolerated and frequently enjoyed his time on David’s boat. He was happiest at anchor with a martini looking for shooting stars overhead. David retired and they married among family and friends at a joyous event overlooking Boston Harbor in 2019.

Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease with primary progressive aphasia during the Covid epidemic in 2020, Mark bravely pursued clinical trials knowing they could help him or others in the future. He was one of just twelve people in the world to receive Protollin, an Alzheimer’s vaccine, in a phase I trial designed to test the safety of this novel immunotherapy. He volunteered for a trial to determine if a small, portable MRI machine could serve as a useful tool to diagnose Alzheimer’s. He performed online cognitive exercises nearly every day, frequently for an hour or more. Mark recorded a nine-song album, A Little Jam and Spice, despite his advancing illness. The music is available on major streaming sites. As Mark’s life became much more difficult, David cared for him at home and, for most of 2025, the two had lunch together nearly every day at a memory care assisted living facility in Andover, Mass. Despite a debilitating condition, Mark never lost the ability to recognize friends and family and feel their tremendous love for him.

Mark cherished his family and was happiest in their company. He is predeceased by his parents, his brother Michael and his nephews Christopher Smith and Patrick Manley. He is dearly loved and will be missed by his New Jersey-based sisters and brothers-in-law including Maureen and Bob Bloomer of Bloomfield, Michele and James “Smitty” Smith of Kearny, Marjorie and John Plaugic of Belmar and sister-in-law Doris Manley of California. He was a beloved uncle to nephews (and their spouses) John Allan (Romina) Plaugic, Kyle (Natalie) Plaugic, James (Adrienne) Smith of Massachusetts, Michael Drew (Erika) Manley of California, and nieces Kelly (Anthony) Malizia and Goddaughter Misti (Joseph) Carraturro, each from Kearny, and their respective children. Most of all he will be missed and remembered by his husband David.

Celebrations of life will be held in the Boston and New York areas. Donations in Mark’s memory can be made to the Actors’ Equity Foundation at actorsequityfoundation.org or to support research through the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.