Born On This Day- August 26th... Michael Jeter

Michael Jeter was much loved at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, not the least for providing us with the best ever moments at the Tony Awards. He was a Tony & Emmy Award-winning actor who played nebbishy characters with a Chaplinesque flair.

Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., & landed his first film role in Milos Forman's  film version of Hair in 1979. He had small parts in film & TV & was a frequent performer Off Broadway during the early 1980s, where he appeared in Alice in Concert & G. R. Point, & in gay playwright Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9, directed by gay polymath,Tommy Tune.

In 1989, Jeter appeared in the musical adaptation of the film Grand Hotel, also directed by Mr. Tune. He played Otto Kringelein, the dying bookkeeper who goes on one last night on the town, releasing a lifetime of pent-up emotion in a frantic Charleston-  We'll Take a Glass Together, one of the best musical theatre numbers of all time.

Frank Rich: "Mr. Jeter lets loose like a human top gyrating out of control, literally breaking out of his past into a new existence."

Jeter won a Tony for best supporting actor for the role, & was soon a frequent face in film & TV, though he was rarely the star. In The Fisher King (1991), he played played a homeless man who does a spirited Ethel Merman impression, & he was nominated 3 times for an Emmy for his role in the CBS series Evening Shade  (1990-94), in which he played a wimpy but high-strung high school math teacher, Herman Stiles, who finds himself the assistant football coach under Burt Reynolds.

He won the award in 1992 & was nominated 2 more time, for roles on Post Apocalyptic Bohemian favorites- Picket Fences & Chicago Hope.

Jeter's film credits include: Patch Adams, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Welcome to Collinwood, Jurassic Park III, Jakob the Liar & The Green Mile.

For more than a decade, Jeter also had a recurring role on Sesame Street as Mr. Noodle.

Jeter lived in LA & NYC with his longtime partner Sean Blue. On March 30, 2003, Jeter was found dead in his Hollywood home at the age of 50, a victim of HIV. He was cremated & his ashes were scattered over the Pacific. He is missed. On this day, August 26th, Jeter would have been, should have been 60 years old.