Michael Jeter

Born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, he was a student at Memphis State University[?] when his interests changed from medicine to acting. He pursued his initial stage career in Baltimore, as he had heard it was hard to get work in New York without an equity card. His woebegone look, extreme flexibility and high energy led Tommy Tune[?] to cast him in the Off-Broadway Cloud 9[?] and, on Broadway, in a memorable role in the musical Grand Hotel, for which he won a Tony award in 1990.

He was open about his troubles with addiction, and for a time decided to retire from entertainment, but was eventually enticed back with roles on television and in movies.

When he was diagnosed with HIV, he discussed it openly at a time when there was still much unreasoned fear about the disease.

He had been thought to be in good health, but was found dead in his Los Angeles home. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Theatre

• Once in a Lifetime
• G. R. Point
• Cloud 9
• Grand Hotel (Tony award for his portrayal of Otto Kringelein, a dying man with a thirst for life, his song "We'll Take a Glass Together" was revelatory.)

Television

• Evening Shade
• Gypsy (1993 TV version)
• Sesame Street: as Elmo's friend "Mr. Noodle's Brother, Mr. Noodle"
• Hothouse
• From Here to Eternity

Movies

• The Green Mile[?]
• Jurassic Park III[?]
• The Fisher King
• Jakob the Liar[?]
• Patch Adams[?]
• Hair[?]
• Ragtime
• Zelig
• The Money Pit[?]
• Mouse Hunt[?]
• The Polar Express[?] (to be released posthumously.)
• Dead Bang