Keith Prentice

Keith Prentice (February 21, 1940 – September 27, 1992) was an American TV, film and stage actor, whose most famous role was the part of Larry in both the original stage and film versions of The Boys in the Band. Prentice also appeared on the TV soap Dark Shadows during the series' final months in 1971. For a number of years, his picture was displayed on the Tasters Choice coffee label.

Prentice studied in New York City at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His stage musical credits include Sail Away, The Sound of Music, Paint Your Wagon, and The King and I. In 1968, he appeared off-Broadway in the play The Boys in the Band, a once controversial play featuring gay characters at a dramatic birthday party - the Summer before the Stonewall gay civil rights riots. He also appeared in the film version of the play.[1]

In 1971, Prentice joined the cast of Dark Shadows playing Morgan Collins in the show's 1841 Parallel Time plot line. Prentice also appeared as Nils Fowler in the 1972 film The Legend of Nigger Charley and had a small role in the 1980 film Cruising which, like The Boys in the Band, was directed by William Friedkin.

In 1982, Keith Prentice co-founded Kettering Theatre Under the Stars, and directed summer shows there until the year of his death.

Prentice died of AIDS-related cancer on September 27, 1992 in Kettering, Ohio.[2][3][4]