SignalHub-Maurice Hines, tap-dancing icon and 'The Cotton Club' star, dies at 80

Maurice Hines,SignalHub the dancer, actor and choreographer who starred on Broadway and in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” has died at 80.

The tap-dancing icon, whose younger brother Gregory Hines was also a dance legend, died at the Actors Fund Home, an assistant living facility in Englewood, New Jersey.

“He was an amazing person and actor,” Jordan Strohl, the home’s executive director, told USA TODAY on Sunday, confirming that the star died Friday.

Hines, born on Dec. 13, 1943, in New York City, launched his dance career at age 5 and made his Broadway debut in 1954 in “The Girl in Pink Tights.” Often working as a duo with Gregory, who died in 2003 of liver cancer at age 57, and their dad, Maurice Sr., he was seen onstage, in nightclubs and on television, with credits that include appearances on “The Tonight Show,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “Love, Sidney,” “The Equalizer” and “Cosby.”

In 1984's “Cotton Club,” his sole film role, he and Gregory starred as tap-dancing brothers Clay and Sandman Williams.

In 1986, he was nominated for best actor in a musical at the Tony Awards for his role in “Uptown … It’s Hot!” His numerous stage credits include playing Nathan Detroit in the national touring company of “Guys and Dolls” (in the '70s) and roles in “Bring Back Birdie” and “Sophisticated Ladies” (both 1981). He co-directed and choreographed the national tour of “Satchmo,” the Louis Armstrong biography, and directed, choreographed and starred in the national tour of “Harlem Suite.”

His famous friend Debbie Allen mourned the star on social media.

"Maurice Hines, I was your first leading lady in a show, 'Guys and Dolls,' and I will always treasure our journey together," Allen wrote. "My tears are for my inability to speak with you or to hold you. I will ALWAYS SPEAK YOUR NAME. See you on the other side.”