Nicholas Pryor

Nicholas David Pryor, born Nicholas David Probst on January 28, 1935, in Baltimore, Maryland, was an American actor whose career spanned nearly seven decades across stage, film, and television. He was the son of Dorothy, née Driskill, and J. Stanley Probst, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Pryor died of cancer on October 7, 2024, at his home in Wilmington, North Carolina, at the age of 89.

Pryor's stage career brought him to Broadway across a span of nearly two decades, from 1957 to 1974. His Broadway credits included the drama The Egghead, the comedy Howie, the musical Little Me, and the plays The Highest Tree and Thieves, among other productions.

His film work began in the mid-1970s with appearances in The Happy Hooker and Smile, both released in 1975. In 1976 he played Samuel Graves, a nervous college professor, in The Gumball Rally. He subsequently appeared in Damien: Omen II in 1978 alongside William Holden and Lee Grant, and in 1980 took on a role as one of the ailing passengers in Airplane. In 1983 he was cast as the father of Joel Goodson, the character played by Tom Cruise, in Risky Business. Four years later he portrayed the estranged father of Julian Wells, played by Robert Downey Jr., in Less than Zero. Additional film credits included The Falcon and the Snowman in 1985, Pacific Heights in 1990, Executive Decision and The Chamber in 1996, and Collateral Damage in 2002.

Television occupied a significant portion of Pryor's career. In 1964 he joined the cast of the newly launched soap opera Another World as an original cast member, playing Tom Baxter until the character was written out after six months. In 1973 he became the second actor to portray private investigator Joel Gantry on The Edge of Night. His television work also included The Adams Chronicles in 1976, Washington: Behind Closed Doors in 1977, and Gideon's Trumpet in 1980. His most prominent television role came with Beverly Hills, 90210, where from 1994 to 1997 he played A. Milton Arnold, the Chancellor of California University, a widower whose daughter Claire was portrayed by Kathleen Robertson. In the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, he played Victor Collins on General Hospital and its spin-off Port Charles.

Pryor's fourth wife was actress Christine Belford, whom he married in July 1993. He is survived by his daughter Stacey Pryor and his grandchildren Auguste and Avril Bas. Following his death, Belford shared a note Pryor had written to be delivered to The Hollywood Reporter, in which he expressed that he had been enormously grateful to have worked as an actor for nearly seventy years.