Actor Peter White, best known for his work on the soap opera All My Children and in multiple adaptations of The Boys in the Band, has died at the age of 86.
White died of melanoma at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, his All My Children costar Kathleen Noone confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
The New York City-born actor, who had celebrated his 86th birthday last month, portrayed the character Linc Tyler on ABC’s All My Children on 12 episodes of the series from 1976-2005, according to iMDb.
White initially played the role of Tyler – the storyline son of Phoebe Tyler (played by the late Ruth Warrick) in 1974, as he was the third actor to play the part on the long-running soap, according to THR. He came back and appeared in episodes in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1995 and 2005.
White played the role of Alan McCarthy in The Boys in the Band, both on stage and in the 1970 movie from director William Friedkin.
Details: Actor Peter White, best known for his work on the soap opera All My Children and in multiple adaptations of The Boys in the Band, has died at the age of 86. Pictured in 1970
The veteran actor was pictured in the 2006 Hallmark film Though None Go With Me
He began appearing in the role in April of 1968 at the off-Broadway venue, Theater Four.
The play and film centers around a birthday party in Manhattan for a group of gay men at a time the portrayal of gay characters was minimized or unflattering; it was not made clear if the McCarthy character was gay.
In a 2008 interview with Weekly, according to Soap Opera Digest, White spoke about the uncharted waters the cast and crew had about the work.
‘Opening night, none of us knew what we had,’ White said. ‘We all just thought, “It’s a play, it’s something new, it’s different and it’s good.” It was a 100 percent gay audience – and then the next day, it went crazy!’
The popularity of the production soared, as White said, ‘We got a call to come to the theater early, because there was such a crowd around the theater, you couldn’t get near it.’
White said that he never viewed The Boys in the Band as ‘a gay play’ but rather ‘a play with gay characters.’
He said that he had been working on a production of the Neil Simon play Barefoot in the Park when he was given a chance to appear in The Boys in the Band. White said that his Barefoot in the Park costar, the late Myrna Loy, recommended he perform in the potentially-controversial production.
‘Things were sort of really moving for me; I was doing so well, and I thought, “I don’t need this kind of risk,”‘ White told Weekly in 2008. ‘I talked to Myrna – she became my mentor – and she said, “Peter, if you are going to be an actor, you are going to have to take some risks in your life.”‘
The veteran actor was remembered on social media amid news of his passing
White portrayed the character Linc Tyler on ABC’s All My Children on 12 episodes of the series from 1976-2005, according to iMDb
White was a graduate of Northwestern University and had also studied his craft at the Yale School of Drama.
White got his start on the CBS soap The Secret Storm from 1965-1966, portraying the character Jerry Ames; he also appeared on the series N.Y.P.D. in 1968 in a guest role.
White played the role of Dr. Sanford Hiller on the CBS soap Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing in 1971, also appearing in the movie The Pursuit of Happiness that year. His first stint on Broadway came in 1975 in the play Your Cat Is Dead.
White also had an extended run on the ABC series The Colbys in 1985-1986, portraying the role of lawyer Arthur Cates on 16 episodes of the show’s initial two seasons.
He also appeared on 14 episodes of the NBC show Sisters from 1991-1996, playing the role of Dr. Thomas Reed, the late father of the characters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips.
White was a frequent guest star on TV shows throughout the 1980s, including Hill Street Blues, The Jeffersons, Dynasty, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Hart to Hart, Simon & Simon, The Paper Chase, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Matlock, L.A. Law, Dallas and Designing Women.
He continued working steadily in the 1990s, with appearances on Mad About You, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, The X-Files, Ally McBeal, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Cold Case, among others.
White was the third actor to play the part on the long-running soap, according to THR. He came back and appeared in episodes in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1995 and 2005.
White had acted in multiple motion pictures in his career, including 2004’s First Daughter, 1998’s Armageddon, 1997’s Flubber and 1993’s Dave. His final role came in the 2016 movie Punching Henry.
White had worked as an acting coach in recent years, THR reported.
Kathleen Noone told THR that White was unmarried and did not have any children.