Jeff Mylett

Jeffrey Mylett (June 8, 1949 – May 7, 1986) was an American actor and songwriter born in North Canton, Ohio. He attended Hoover High School before pursuing theater studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Mylett became particularly associated with the musical Godspell, appearing in both its stage and film productions.

Mylett's professional career began with the original off-Broadway production of Godspell in 1971, which launched at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for an initial two-week run. During that early run, the cast contributed their own songs to the show, and Mylett supplied two of them. When producers transferred the production to commercial theaters, Stephen Schwartz was brought in to compose a new score, and the original cast songs were replaced, with the sole exception of "By My Side" by Jay Hamburger and Peggy Gordon. Mylett subsequently appeared in Thoughts, a work by his Godspell castmate Lamar Alford, at La MaMa in both 1972 and 1973. He reprised his Godspell role in the 1973 film adaptation of the musical.

His Broadway credit came in 1974 with The Magic Show, where he served as understudy to Doug Henning and performed Henning's role during his absences. On the occasions when Mylett took the stage in that capacity, the character's name was changed from "Doug" to "Jeff." The following year, Mylett hosted The Rock 'n' Fun Magic Show, a 1975 television special combining music, magic, and comedy, which featured Henning, Bill Cosby, and the Hudson Brothers among its performers. A series intended to follow the special was never produced.

In early 1977, Mylett participated in the workshop that developed the musical Working. When the production moved to the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and subsequently to Broadway, the roles he had developed during the workshop were performed by Joe Mantegna. His film work included Money Talks (1972), Brewster's Millions (1985), and My Man Adam (1985).

Mylett followed the spiritual teacher Meher Baba and appeared in The God-Man, a documentary about Baba produced for Australian television in 1976, in which he was interviewed and performed his original song "House of the Lord." He died in Los Angeles on May 7, 1986, at the age of 36, from complications of HIV/AIDS.