Darryl Warren
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September 6, 1946 - March 28, 2018
Darryl Warren was born in Covington, KY, the son of a burlesque dancer who moved her family to Chicago when Warren was just an infant. Warren grew up in Uptown and attended Senn High School. He left school at age 15, and worked a variety of jobs in his early years, including caterer, bartender and linoleum salesman. Darryl taught himself to play drums and congas, eventually playing with the iconic Chicago band, The Buckinghams. In the 1970s, Warren took acting and comedy classes at Chicago's Second City from famed comedic teacher Del Close. Among his classmates was future "Saturday Night Live" star, actor and screenwriter Tim Kazurinsky- who still resides in Evanston and has continued to meet with a motley crew of old friends for breakfast over the past few decades. Kazurinsky remembers Darryl as, "a happy, handsome troubadour. He had a hard upbringing, but he always had a smile on his face and something positive to say about everybody. He was really a sweet man, with a great attitude." He was not guy easily labeled. Friend, musician and actor John Garvey, who studied at Second City alongside Warren and later in a comedy troupe with Darryl (the Klein Family) and a band with him called Rio Bamba, remarked, “He was so unique and you couldn't put him in a bag of any kind or a category. I would call him the Miles Davis of humor," Garvey said. "Like Miles Davis, who didn't play a lot of notes, Darryl was a genuine jazz cat in humor. He could always produce a short quip or something comedic that would be simple but very powerful and impactful." Chicago audiences enjoyed Darryl’s performance in the legendary Chicago play Bleacher Bums (Organic Theater), Moe Green's Other Eye (Annoyance Theatre), Earth on a Platter (Second City) and Happy End (Court Theatre). Warren also appeared in countless TV commercials and modeled in many print ads. Darryl acted in film & TV, including a notable turn as a former priest in the popular 2000 film Return to Me. Warren appeared in the 2008 sports film The Express and had a guest role in an episode of Chicago P.D. Darryl is survived by his companion, Sally Biagi, and his daughter, Stella. |