Gilbert Price

Who was Gilbert Price?

Gilbert Price was an American singer and actor.

Price was a protégé of Langston Hughes. A life member of The Actors Studio, Price's first leading role was off-Broadway in Hughes' Jerico-Jim Crow, for which he won a Theatre World Award. Hughes seemed to fall in love with Price. Unpublished love poems by Hughes were addressed to a man he called "Beauty," thought to refer to Price.

Born in New York City of African-American heritage, he graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1960, where he stood out for both his talent and gentle, easygoing manner. Price made guest appearances on several television talk and variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, Red Skelton, and The Merv Griffin Show.

Price also sang oratorios, including Leonard Bernstein's Mass. He died in Vienna, Austria in 1991 of accidental asphyxiation.