Artie Gilbert earned an affectionate nickname from his friends: Renaissance Man. It was the perfect sobriquet for the San Anselmo resident. What couldn’t he do?
Actor, director, playwright, painter, chef, realtor, Gilbert could do it all. But with his death from cancer on Thursday, Jan. 25, that talent has been stilled. Gilbert was 61.
In a theatrical career spanning 30 years, Gilbert will perhaps best be remembered for co-founding Marin Classic Theatre, which restaged great American plays by the likes of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. He was also active with the Ross Valley Players, another Marin County theater.
“He brought passion and energy to everything he did,” remembered Ben Colteaux, co-founder of MCT. “Artie was an actor’s director. He didn’t sit on high and dictate. It was ‘Let’s have a conversation and find what we want together.'”
One of his last roles came in 2005, starring in Neil Simon’s “45 Seconds Over Broadway” with the Ross Valley Players. In an interview with j. at the time, Gilbert noted that Simon drew on the metaphor of “kishkes” to explain how an actor connects with his audience. “It’s the stomach,” said Gilbert, “the pit of the stomach. It’s what you aim for as an actor. I’m the foremost kishke man in the country.”
“Artie was a person like no other,” said his wife Nathalie Kemp. “He was probably the smartest person I ever met. He was also one of the toughest people I ever met. He was who he was, and proud of it.”
Born in New York City, Gilbert grew up in Rockville Center, N.Y. As a child he attended many first run Broadway productions, including “West Side Story.”
He also attended his aunt’s upstate New York Orthodox summer camp, where he would “play basketball with a yarmulke on.” Gilbert studied drama at Temple University, then went on to pursue a real estate career in Georgia, Florida and finally California. He has two grown children from a previous marriage.
Settling in Marin County, Gilbert became manager of Avalar Real Estate. Working there, he met Kemp in 2000. They were married soon after. Said Kemp, “As far as real estate is concerned, it wasn’t so much about selling, but about relationships, about people. Where most people dread sales meetings, they looked forward to Artie’s meetings.”
Gilbert did not pursue professional acting and directing until his 30’s, but he made up for lost time. “He was a good actor,” said Colteaux, “with really good energy and stage presence. He was a lousy dancer though. He’d hide behind me when we had to dance.”
Colteaux recalled a production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” directed by Gilbert. “There was a character who is lobotomized from the start of the show,” he said. “He hangs on the wall for an hour and a half. We couldn’t find anyone to play the role, but Artie talked me into it. He shaved my head and stuck me to the wall. He used the line, ‘Take one for the team.'”
At home, Gilbert loved to cook, to write and spend time with Kemp and his stepchildren. “He was a great stepdad,” said Kemp, “We’d go out on little trips and the kids were always included. Our lives were about being home.”
When stomach cancer struck, Gilbert was forced to curtail his love of cooking and eating. But, said Kemp, “the amazing thing is he never complained. He was in a lot of pain, but he wasn’t afraid of going.”
With Gilbert’s death, Colteaux will fold Marin Classic Theatre. “I don’t have the heart to do it without him,” he said. “But we will do at least one show a year as a fundraiser.”
That money will go to fund a scholarship at the College of Marin’s theater department for students pursuing careers in theater. It will be known as the Artie Gilbert Memorial Scholarship.
Artie Gilbert is survived by his wife, Nathalie Kemp, of San Anselmo; his mother, Ruth Gilbert, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; a sister, Margot Gilbert Gilison, of Baltimore, Md.; son Joshua Gilbert, and daughter Dawn Gilbert, both of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; stepchildren Thomas Kemp and Phoebe Kemp, both of San Anselmo; and two grandsons. Donations can be made in the name of Artie Gilbert to the College of Marin Foundation, P.O. Box 446, Kentfield, CA 94914.