Actor and director Terry Bellamy — a founding company member of St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre and Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis — has died at age 70.

Bellamy’s body was found at his St. Paul home Saturday after police had been called for a welfare check. Bellamy’s older brother Lou, who founded Penumbra, has said Bellamy was struggling with COVID-19. They spoke by phone for the final time Thursday night.

“Terry died from COVID,” Penumbra president Sarah Bellamy, who is Lou Bellamy’s daughter, said in a Monday statement. “He spent the last of his days seeking help from a healthcare system that kept denying him, sending him away. His family members tried to help from afar, suggesting workarounds from over the phone. But on Friday the phone just kept ringing.”

Ron Peluso, who recently retired from St. Paul’s History Theatre, first met Bellamy in the early ’80s when Peluso was a stage manager at Mixed Blood. He helped Bellamy launch a tour of schools around the state with his one-man Malcolm X show.

“Terry was one of the most passionate artists in the Twin Cities,” Peluso said. “It was one actor in a gymnasium with a folding chair for a set. I couldn’t help but see how the students were just mesmerized by Terry.”

Bellamy was the third son of ElVeeda Luckett Bellamy, who owned and operated St. Paul’s Ebony Lounge, and Maurice Bellamy, a railroad waiter. After attending the University of Minnesota and serving in the Navy, Bellamy began his acting career. In 1976, he joined both Penumbra and Mixed Blood when the theaters opened with a promise of presenting more diverse and inclusive productions.

“Terry loved to talk about the craft of theater and film, to analyze the work deeply,” said Sarah Bellamy. “Dramaturgy ignited him. He gravitated toward anything that debunked racist myths about our people and culture.”

The recipient of two Twin Cities Drama Critics Circle Awards, Bellamy’s extensive stage work included performances at the Guthrie Theater, History Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Illusion Theater, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Stage Baltimore, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House and Hudson Guild.

At Penumbra, Bellamy found success acting in works written by August Wilson, a onetime St. Paul resident who won two Pulitzer Prizes. Wilson based the character Levee on Terry in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Bellamy also originated the young character Booster in Wilson’s “Jitney.” In a 2016 production of “Jitney,” former Pioneer Press theater critic Dominic Papatola praised Bellamy for taking on an older role in the play, writing that Bellamy “plays the nosey Turnbo like a ornery dog who won’t let go of a bone.” That was his final Penumbra performance.

“Like many people, I am shocked and crushed by the loss,” Peluso said. “Terry was really an outspoken artist and I loved being around him. He was passionate about his points of view and storytelling and social justice. Whether you agreed or disagreed with him, he was going to give you 110 percent of his heart and soul.”

Said Sarah Bellamy: “Terry will be remembered as an architect and guardian of Penumbra. He believed in the dream of this place and his contributions. His willingness to invest his hopes, laughter, rage and sorrow here, gave us the ceremonial ground on which we stand. We will honor it, Terry, and honor you. May flights of angels carry you.”

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