Tony Roberts, best known for his roles in Woody Allen films such as Annie Hall, has passed away at the age of 85.

Roberts, who frequently portrayed the protagonist’s easy-going best friend in Allen’s films, distinguished himself on both Broadway and the big screen, earning two Tony Award nominations during his career.

A close friend of Allen’s, Roberts was renowned for his role in the 1977 hit Annie Hall, where he played Alvy Singer’s best friend, Rob.

His daughter, Nicole Burley, confirmed his passing on Friday in Manhattan to The New York Times, revealing that complications from lung cancer were the cause of death.

Roberts starred in numerous musicals, including How Now, Dow Jones, Sugar, and the stage adaptation of Some Like It Hot. He also co-starred alongside Dame Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria.

In his long-standing collaboration with Woody Allen, Roberts appeared in both stage and screen productions, including the 1966 comedy Don’t Drink the Water and Play It Again, Sam.

His film credits in Allen’s works include Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Stardust Memories, and A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy.

“I’ve never been particularly lucky at card games. I’ve never hit a jackpot. But I have been extremely lucky in life,” he wrote in his memoir Do You Know Me?, as quoted by ABC News.

“Unlike many of my pals, who didn’t know what they wanted to become when they grew up, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I got to high school.”

Roberts made his Broadway debut in 1962 with Something About a Soldier, later starring in some of the longest-running hit shows, including Barefoot in the Park, Promises, Promises, They’re Playing Our Song, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, The Sisters Rosensweig, and Cabaret.

Reflecting on his career in a 2015 interview with Broadway World, he remarked: “I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway. In that era, there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction.”

Born in New York on 22 October 1939, Roberts was the son of radio and television star Ken Roberts. He attended the High School of Music & Art in New York before graduating from Northwestern University in Illinois.

“I was raised in the middle of a lot of actor talk,” he told The Associated Press in 1985. “My cousin was Everett Sloane, who was a very fine actor. My father’s friends were mostly actors. I’m sure that in some way, I needed to prove myself in their eyes.”

Roberts was married to Jennifer Lyons, but the marriage ended in 1975 after six years. He is survived by his only child, Nicola.

Discussing his extensive work with Woody Allen, Roberts once described it as both a blessing and a curse.

“Typecasting can help you and hurt you. I don’t know ultimately how to really explain whether it was a good thing. Annie Hall was an iconic film, and I got identified with being Max,” he said.

“But then I was in six of his films, so naturally, I would become identified as something by that, which may have kept other people from casting me in more anonymous roles.

“I think it was Robert Duvall who said: ‘An actor’s greatest gift is his anonymity because it’s what they don’t know that lets them accept whatever you want to show them.’”

Figures from the world of television and film have taken to social media to pay tribute to Roberts.

Publicist Danny Deraney wrote: “Rest in power, Tony Roberts. He should have been nominated (and won) an Oscar in 1977 for Annie Hall. An absolutely brilliant actor.”

A fan, @rufusjones1, tweeted: “Rest in Manhattan, Tony Roberts. ‘I’m at the Hong Fat Noodle Company…’ What a brilliantly funny actor, able to find a still, individual space amid the anxious carnival of Woody Allen’s early genius.”