Kenneth Nelson (March 24, 1930 – October 7, 1993) was an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, '' Captain Video and His Video Rangers'' and '' The Aldrich Family'' among them. He was cast in his first Broadway show, '' Seventeen'', a musical adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel that opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 21, 1951 and ran 182 performances. In 1960, Nelson was cast in an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

show entitled '' The Fantasticks'', which eventually became the world's longest-running musical with 17,162 performances. In 1962, he was hired to understudy

Anthony Newley Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leadin ...

in '' Stop the World - I Want to Get Off'' when it transferred from the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

, eventually assuming the lead role when the star departed the show. From there, he went to another London import, '' Half a Sixpence'', in 1965. In 1968, Nelson accepted the lead in the controversial and groundbreaking off-Broadway production of '' The Boys in the Band'', the first play to explore the milieu of gay life in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in a verbally frank manner. He and the rest of the cast went on to appear in the 1970 film version directed by

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the " New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in ...

. Also in 1970 Nelson returned to Broadway in the lead role in '' Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen'', a musical adaptation of '' The Teahouse of the August Moon''. It was a critical and commercial disaster, closing after only 19 performances. After settling in England in 1971, he played opposite Cleo Laine in ''Showboat'' and ''Colette'' on the West End stage, and appeared in ''Annie'' and ''42nd Street''. In 1974, he played a leading role in the highly successful revue ''Cole'' at London's Mermaid Theatre. Nelson appeared opposite Celeste Holm as Russell Paxton in the British premiere of the

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

/ Moss Hart musical ''

Lady in the Dark ''Lady in the Dark'' is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fictional fashion magazine w ...

'' at the Nottingham Playhouse on 9 December 1981. In 1985 he played sinister nuclear entrepreneur Jerry Grogan in '' Edge of Darkness'', the seminal BBC thriller series written by Troy Kennedy Martin, and had roles in the Clive Barker horror films '' Hellraiser'' (1987) and '' Nightbreed'' (1990). Nelson spent much of the later part of his career in small roles on television and in movies. Nelson died in 1993 of AIDS-related complications in London.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Kenneth 1930 births 1993 deaths American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male television actors American gay actors Male actors from North Carolina AIDS-related deaths in England American expatriates in the United Kingdom People from Rocky Mount, North Carolina 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century LGBT people