Keith Prentice in the Film Cruising

[David]

I just watched Cruising, the very dark and disturbing Al Pacino film about a serial killer targeting gay men in New York's leather community--first time I saw it since it's original release in 1980.
I'd forgotten that Keith Prentice (Morgan, 1841 PT) had a two line cameo.
This was sad to see: I suspect Prentice got the gig because Cruising director William Friedkin had directed the film version of The Boys in the Band, in which Prentice reprised his stage role.

Prentice went from the hugely successful stage version of Boys, to the Boys film, to DS, so he seemed to be on his way. I guess it wasn't meant to be: his career seems to have fizzled out after DS.

Show biz is a mean beast.

[michael c]

on the 'boys in the band' DVD extras they interview the surviving members of the cast...


all the guys involved knew they were taking a considerable risk doing the movie(and to a lesser extent the play)and were potentially committing career suicide. the "subject" was still far too controversial at the time and associating oneself so strongly with a gay situation was a gamble. frankly I've always been sort of surprised Prentice was hired on DS given his time in 'boys'. for a daytime soap, and in particular one with a strong adolescent following, it was a potentially risky move.

unfortunately those predictions largely turned out to be accurate. none of the talented cast went on to have the careers they should have had. still, they were pioneers in a landmark film so it's a tradeoff.

apparently Prentice's handsome mug graced the 'taster's choice' coffee jar for many years. I seem to recall that from my childhood.

[michael c]

and really...


to this minute the mere suggestion that a *certain* DS actor "might" have been gay is enough to send some fans into a tailspin of denial or an apoplectic rage.

some things don't change.

[David]

True about the Boys cast with two exceptions: Peter White, who was on All My Children for years, and Laurence Luckinbill, who was a successful character actor.
DS might have broken the jinx for Keith, but I guess it didn't.

"Hollywood is the most evil place on earth".
------Vincent Price

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Didn't Prentice start some sort of theater company and work with that for years. Many excellent actors never did TV or films yet worked in theater all their lives - but that doesn't mean that they had unsuccessful careers.

I'm going to have to go back through some old ShadowGrams to check...

[David]

yes, MB. In his Ohio hometown after he left New York.
True what you said--the first horror movie I ever saw was The Deadly Bees (1967)--I was surprised to learn years later that Catherine Finn, who played the older lady who was stung to death--a minor movie player--performed Shakespeare with an Irish theater company. In Gaelic no less!

[michael c]

True about the Boys cast with two exceptions: Peter White, who was on All My Children for years, and Laurence Luckinbill, who was a successful character actor.
DS might have broken the jinx for Keith, but I guess it didn't.

yes. strangely enough two of the few actors in the film who were actually heterosexual managed to carve out moderately successful careers...

connection? who knows? 

[Gothick]

I think Leonard Frey, whose brilliant performance as the bete-noire of the evening in Boys has to rank as one of the most truly Gothic moments in American cinema, did have a decent career.  Not well known to the public, perhaps, but fame can be a highly overrated experience, or so I have been told.

I love that VP quote--"Hollywood is the most evil place on earth."  Grayson could barely stand going out there yet she did so every year.  That's enough for me.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

Cliff Gorman didn't fare too badly either. He won a Tony award for playing Lenny Bruce in the play Lenny
He did films as well, most notably An Unmarried Woman and All That Jazz.

[Brian]

yes, MB. In his Ohio hometown after he left New York.

I knew Keith back in the early 1980s, after he returned from New York to Dayton, Ohio.  He started the Kettering Theater Under the Stars, and ran it for many years, I think nearly up until he died.  About "Cruising," Keith told me that he originally had a larger role in the film, and had been slated to be one of the victims--but his role was either cut before shooting or "left on the cutting room floor."

[Joeytrom]

Lawrence Luckinbill is also Lucie Arnaz husband.

A follow up to Cruising is out now on DVD called "Interior.Leather.Bar"

Product Description
Inspired by the mythology surrounding the highly controversial 1980 film, Cruising, starring Al Pacino - in which, 40 minutes of sexually explicit material was forced to be cut out - filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews set out to re-imagine the lost footage. Assembling a mix of gay and straight men, including Val Lauren (The Salton Sea, Live from Baghdad) in the lead role, the result is a provocative exploration of the importance of the radical and transgressive in society and the value of engaging with the unfamiliar.

Special Features:
Short Film The Feast of Stephen by James Franco
Short Film In Their Room: SF by Travis Mathews
Interviews with James Franco & Travis Mathews
Original Theatrical Trailer

http://www.amazon.com/Interior-Leather-Bar-James-Franco/dp/B00I4CWIVU/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1399388032&sr=1-2&keywords=gay.leather.bar