Actor Peter White passes away at 86

Veteran actor Peter White, who gained popularity through his leading role in the drama, The Boys in the Band, and in the television series, All My Children, passed away on November 1, 2023, at the age of 86. The actor passed away in his Los Angeles home.

Kathleen Noone who portrayed Ellen Shepherd in the beloved soap opera, confirmed Peter White's passing to The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday, November 4, 2023. Noone also released a statement about the same to Soap Hub:

“I wanted you to know that Peter White, who played Linc, Phoebe’s, Ruth Warrick’s, son, died today from Melanoma.”

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the actor was suffering from melanoma and eventually succumbed to it.

---

A look back at All My Children actor Peter White's memorable roles

A still of Peter White (image via bnn network)

Hollywood veteran Peter White was a native of New York City, having been born there on October 10, 1937. After earning his degree from Northwestern University, he attended the Yale School of Drama, where he pursued acting.

He started his illustrious career as an actor in soap operas as Jerry Ames on CBS' The Secret Storm. Though he also had an appearance on an episode of N.Y.P.D., White's career really took off when he was cast in the 1968 original cast of the popular off-Broadway play The Boys in the Band.

White played the lead part of Alan McCarthy in the off-Broadway play, which depicted gay life and communities in New York City. This portrayal represented a viewpoint that had previously been disregarded or looked down upon.

In a 2008 interview with Soap Opera Digest, White opened up about his experience acting in the play:

“Opening night, none of us knew what we had. We all just thought, ‘It’s a play, it’s something new, it’s different and it’s good.’”

He further added:

“It was a 100 percent gay audience — and then the next day, it went crazy! We got a call to come to the theater early, because there was such a crowd around the theater, you couldn’t get near it. Everyone at the time wanted to call it a gay play — (I always thought) it wasn’t (so much) a gay play (as) it was a play with gay characters.”

Throughout the course of four decades, White portrayed Tyler in All My Children, initially from 1974 to 1980 and then again in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1995, and 2005. He also went on to act in film and television series like Armageddon, Passport to Paris, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and The Colbys among others.