Broadway Star Charles Nolte Dies at 87

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has reported that actor, director and playwright Charles Nolte died of prostate cancer last Thursday at the age of 87.

Nolte made his Broadway debut in 1947 alongside Charlton Heston in ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA. He co-starred with Heston again in 1950 in DESIGN FOR A STAINed Glass WINDOW. He went on to perform in the title role in Billy Budd and made his final appearance on Broadway in 1954's THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Nolte worked as "a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he taught from the mid-1960s to the late 1990s, Nolte influenced many, including a group of former students who formed the Playwrights' Center."

Nolte made his last appearance onstage two years ago in the Twin Cities in EXIT STRATEGY. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that "in that play, Nolte depicted an aging gay man who once performed on Broadway and who was booted from an academic job because of his relationship with a much younger man.

Nolte is survived by his two sisters and his partner, Terry Kilburn.