Gilbert Price

Gilbert Price (September 10, 1942 – January 2, 1991) was an American actor and operatic baritone born in New York City of African-American heritage. A life member of the Actors Studio in New York, he graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1960 and went on to build a career spanning Broadway, television, and concert performance.

Price first attracted widespread attention in 1964 through his work in Langston Hughes's Off-Broadway production of Jerico-Jim Crow, for which he received a Theatre World Award. He had developed a close relationship with Hughes, who served as his mentor. Unpublished love poems by Hughes, addressed to a man Hughes called Beauty, have been posited by some to refer to Price.

His Broadway career extended from 1965 to 1978 and encompassed five productions. He made his Broadway debut in The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, with music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Subsequent Broadway appearances included Lost in the Stars in 1972, The Night That Made America Famous in 1975, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976, with a score by Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner, and Timbuktu! in 1978. His performances earned him three Tony Award nominations: Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Lost in the Stars, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for The Night That Made America Famous, and Best Actor in a Musical for Timbuktu!

Beyond the stage, Price performed oratorio repertoire, including Leonard Bernstein's Mass in 1971, and made guest appearances on television programs including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Garry Moore Show, and The Merv Griffin Show. Earlier in his career he had also appeared in the 1962 production Fly Blackbird and the 1969 Off-Broadway musical Promenade.

Price died on January 2, 1991, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 48, from accidental asphyxiation caused by a faulty space heater.