Ben Lewis, Phantom Star, Dies at 46 Following Bowel Cancer
Top West End performer and mentor to many, was deeply saddened by the passing of friend Todd Woodbridge, who informed the local community on Instagram.
Ben Lewish, the West End actor who had his most brilliant appearances in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, died due to bowel cancer. He was 46. On Oct. 6, the information about Lewis’s death was shared by his friend and Australian TV presenter, Todd Woodbridge, who in his post widely acknowledged his talent and said: “one of the greats” as well as “one of the great humans, funny, caring and a wonderful mentor to all the people he work[ed] with.”
Ben Lewis, Phantom Star, Passes Away at 46 From Bowel Cancer
West End entertainer cherished and mentor thought of with warmth by friends after an incurable diagnosis made public in 2024.
Todd Woodbridge informed the public on his Instagram on Oct. 6 that Lewis had passed away. He described Lewis as “one of the greats” and reminisced about their “so many fond memories of holidays together in Scotland, visiting the dressing rooms of Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, to times spent at Wimbledon.” Woodbridge ended his tribute by stating that he was “sending our love to all the family tonight.”
In February 2024, Ben Lewis was diagnosed with bowel cancer and it was subsequently determined that the cancer was non-curable, as per a GoFundMe established to support his family.
Early life and training
Lewis is a London native who was raised in a family of opera singers all of whom were classically trained. His parents are Michael Lewis and Patricia Price. He actually studied music at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. After that, he changed his career to the theater. He was the actor in Sydney throughout the 2000s and he worked a lot as he was involved in numerous plays such as Urinetown, A Little Night Music, and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Ben Lewis — Love Never Dies and West End Phantom Star
Understood from the performance he gave in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, he was awarded the Sydney Theatre Award and later staged the Phantom in London’s West End.
Ben Lewis was the first Australian Phantom in Love Never Dies, a production by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2011. He was the main character in the original Australian cast of the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. He was nominated for an award of best actor in a leading role at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2012 and was the recipient of the Judith Johnson Award.
He was filmed for the Universal release of the world tour of the production. Subsequently, Lewis went back to the character that he had become famous for, playing the Phantom at the London West End in 2017 and 2018. He is the husband of Australian actress, Melle Stewart, and the father of their children.
