Obituary of Stephen Elliott

Stephen Elliott, a veteran character actor best known as the bullying millionaire father in the film "Arthur," died of congestive heart failure Saturday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., his family said. He was 86. Most of Elliott's success in films came after he reached the half-century mark. He played authority figures in such movies as "The Hospital" (1971), "Death Wish" (1974) and "The Hindenburg" (1975), and his portrayal of Burt Johnson, Dudley Moore's nemesis in "Arthur," was praised by The New York Times as one of the 1981 film's many "standout" performances. Elliott was born Elliott Pershing Stitzel in 1918 in New York. His mother, a victim of that year's great flu epidemic, died soon after he was born. He was raised in Manhattan by his father, who worked in the textiles business, and a stepmother. Elliott studied with noted acting instructor Sanford Meisner in 1940-42 at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York before serving in the Merchant Marines during World War II. After returning, he made his Broadway debut in 1945 in "The Tempest." Elliott received a Drama Desk Award for his role in 1969's "A Whistle in the Dark," and he was nominated for a Tony for his portrayal of Monsieur Coulmier in the 1967 Broadway revival of "Marat/Sade." His television career began in 1949 in "Hands of Murder," a series of live TV plays on the DuMont network.