RIP Stocker Fontelieu

Stocker Fontelieu, the New Orleans theater legend whose 60-year career included a stint as executive director of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre and directing and acting roles at numerous local theatres, died Monday, December 14. He was 86. Mr. Fontelieu’s health had been failing in recent months, after suffering a fall. He was receiving care at Covenant Nursing Home, where he died. A New Orleans native who attended New Orleans Academy and Tulane University, Mr. Fontelieu was best known for his 24-year career as executive director of Le Petit, which spanned from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Born in New Orleans on May 5, 1923 he was a frequent commercial and movie actor, Mr. Fontelieu’s face and voice were familiar to New Orleanians from TV and film roles as an actor and announcer, even if his name was not. But it is his direction behind the scenes for which friends and colleagues remember him most fondly.By the time he retired in 2006, Mr. Fontelieu had appeared in nearly 150 plays and directed 340 productions, at various local theatres, including Gallery Circle Theatre (where he served as executive director), Bayou Dinner Theater and Rivertown Repertory Theater.

Stocker Fontelieu appeared as a longshoreman in "My Name is Nobody" (1973) and the French/American co-produced TV movie "Louisiana" as an acutioneer.