Gilbert Price was a talented and acclaimed Broadway actor and singer, who was nominated for four Tony Awards and won a Theatre World Award. He was also a protégé of the famous poet Langston Hughes, who wrote love poems for him. However, his life was cut short by a tragic accident in 1991, when he died of accidental asphyxiation due to a faulty space heater in his apartment in Vienna. This article will explore the life and career of Gilbert Price, as well as the circumstances of his death.
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Early Life and Education
Gilbert Price was born on September 10, 1942, in New York City, of African-American heritage. He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1960, where he stood out for both his talent and gentle, easygoing manner. One of his fellow students there was Barbra Streisand. He was discovered by Langston Hughes, who saw him in the musical Fly Blackbird and became his mentor and lover. Hughes wrote several unpublished love poems for Price, calling him “Beauty”. Price was also a life member of New York’s famed Actors Studio.
Broadway Career and Awards
Price made his Broadway debut in 1965, singing “Feeling Good” in The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. The previous year, he had appeared in Hughes’ Off-Broadway production of Jerico-Jim Crow, for which he received a Theatre World Award. He went on to star in several Broadway musicals, such as Lost in the Stars, The Night That Made America Famous, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and Timbuktu!. He was nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and one for Best Actor in a Musical. He also sang oratorios, such as Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, in 1971.
Television and International Appearances
Price also made guest appearances on several television talk and variety shows, such as The Ed Sullivan Show, Red Skelton, Garry Moore, and The Merv Griffin Show. He also performed in regional and foreign productions, such as Promenade in London and Timbuktu! in Los Angeles. In recent years, Price had difficulty finding acting jobs in the U.S., so he moved to Europe, where he conducted singing and acting workshops. He was in Vienna, Austria, when he died.
Cause of Death and Legacy
In 1991, when Price did not show up at his classes for several days, students went to his apartment and found him lifeless. He had died unexpectedly of accidental asphyxiation, due to a faulty space heater. Price, who was 48, had long suffered from diabetes, but it was not believed that the illness contributed to his death. His father, Leon, and a sister survived him. His death was mourned by his fans and colleagues, who remembered him as a gifted and generous performer. He was buried in New York.
Gilbert Price was a remarkable Broadway star, who left behind a legacy of memorable performances and songs. He was also a pioneer of black representation and gay visibility in the theater world. His life and death were marked by both love and tragedy, and he deserves to be remembered as one of the greats of his generation.
