James Sloyan, Actor in ‘The Sting,‘ ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Oh Madeline,’ Dies at 85

He also appeared five times on television in the 'Star Trek' universe and was the voice of Lexus in commercials for almost two decades. James Sloyan, the character actor who appeared in films including The Sting and Xanadu and played Madeline Kahn’s husband on her ABC sitcom, has died at 85. James Sloyan, the busy character actor who appeared in films including The Sting and Xanadu and played Madeline Kahn’s husband on her short-lived 1980s ABC sitcom, has died. He was 85. Sloyan died July 22 at his home in Sherman Oaks, his family announced over the weekend. Star Trek fans know him for his five appearances as a member of four species across The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager in the 1990s, and he served as the voice of Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus in commercials for 18 years starting in 1989.

In George Roy Hill’s The Sting (1973), winner of the Oscar for best picture, Sloyan helped set the plot in motion with his turn as Mottola, the numbers runner who works for racketeer Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) and falls victim to a “pigeon drop scam” perpetrated by Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) and Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones). And in the Olivia Newton-John musical fantasy Xanadu (1980), he played Simpson, the tyrannical boss of Michael Beck’s artist