Born in
Norfolk, Virginia, Bogardus graduated from
Choate Rosemary Hall in 1972 and
Princeton University in 1976, where he was a member of the
Princeton Nassoons and the
Princeton Triangle Club.
Career Bogardus studied acting at
HB Studio. His first role was as one of the Sheriff's men in a local production of
Robin Hood on MacArthur Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. He made his first
New York City appearance in a stage adaptation of the film
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at
Joseph Papp's
Public Theater in 1979. His additional
off-Broadway credits include
March of the Falsettos (1981),
In Trousers (1985),
Falsettoland (1990), and
Love! Valour! Compassion! (1994), which transferred to
Broadway the following year, and
Man of La Mancha (2002). He received both
Obie and
Tony Award nominations for his performance in
Love! Valour! Compassion!, and reprised his role in the 1997 film. He was featured in the
City Center concert series
Encores! in
Sweet Adeline (1997) and
Allegro as Joseph Taylor Jr. (1994). His Broadway work includes
West Side Story (1980) as understudy Tony,
Les Misérables (November 1987 - June 1988) as
Grantaire and understudy
Javert, in addition to other roles,
Safe Sex (1987),
The Grapes of Wrath,
Falsettos (1992) as Whizzer,
King David (Concert, 1997),
High Society (1998), ''
James Joyce's The Dead (April 4, 2000 to April 16, 2000, as Gabriel Conroy), Man of La Mancha
(2002, Dr. Carrasco), and Old Acquaintance'' (2007). In 1990, he toured the United States as the American chess player Freddie Trumper in
Tim Rice's
Chess. A year later, he portrayed Stine in the tour of
City of Angels. In 2008, he starred as Bob Wallace in the Broadway and U.S. touring productions of
White Christmas, a role he had performed in 2005 at the Wang Center in
Boston and in 2006 in
St. Paul. In 2013, he portrayed Colonel Ricci in an Off-Broadway production of
Passion. In 2014-2016, Bogardus originated and appeared on Broadway in the role of Daddy Cane in
Steve Martin and
Edie Brickell's Bright Star. In the late 2010s, he performed on various
Off-Broadway productions portraying Joe Boyd in
Damn Yankees in 2017 and Nick Laine in
Girl from the North Country in 2018. In regional theatre, Bogardus appeared in
M. Butterfly at the
Arena Stage,
Washington, D.C.;
William Finn's,
Elegies, Canon Theatre, Los Angeles; and ''James Joyce's The Dead'' at the Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles and the
Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. In June 2020 he unsuccessfully ran for the presidency of the labor union
Actors' Equity Association, challenging incumbent
Kate Shindle. ==Personal==