DIRECTOR: William Friedkin
BOTTOM LINE: As we saw in the 2020 remake, Mart Crowley’s play “The Boys in the Band” has stood the test of time beautifully. The tragic epilogue is that the five real-life gay actors were all unemployable in major roles after the film’s release and all died of AIDS-related illnesses within seven years of one another in the late eighties and early nineties.
GAY CHARACTERS
*Michael (Kenneth Nelson)
*Harold (Leonard Frey)
*Emory (Cliff Gorman)
*Donald (Frederick Colms)
*Hank (Laurence Luckinbill)
*Larry (Keith Prentice)
*Cowboy Tex (Robert La Tourneaux)
*Bernard (Reuben Greene)
*Alan McCarthy (Peter White)
GAY ACTORS/WRITERS/DIRECTOR
WRITER: Mart Crowley
ACTOR: Kenneth Nelson (R.I.P. 1993 AIDS-related illness)
ACTOR: Leonard Frey (R.I.P. 1988 AIDS-related illness)
ACTOR: FREDERICK COLMS (R.I.P. 1992 AIDS-related illness)
ACTOR: Robert La Tourneaux (R.I.P. 1986 AIDS-related illness)
ACTOR: Keith Prentice (R.I.P. 1992 AIDS-related illness)
