David Carroll (actor)
David Carroll (30 July 1950 – 11 March 1992), sometimes billed as David James Carroll, was an American actor whose last, and best remembered, role was that of Baron Felix von Gaigern in Grand Hotel: The Musical.
Carroll was born in Rockville Center, New York, grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was an active member of the Dartmouth Players. While at Dartmouth Carroll had star roles in several college musicals and in community theater.
He was nominated for two Tony Awards as Best Actor in a Musical: in 1988 for Chess and again in 1990 for Grand Hotel. Carroll also received three Drama Desk Awards nominations as an Outstanding Actor in a Musical: La bohème (1984), Chess (1988), and Grand Hotel (1990). The Original Broadway Cast recording of Chess received a 1988 Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Cast Show album. On the big screen, he had a brief scene with John Ritter in the movie Hero at Large.
Suffering from AIDS, he died of a pulmonary embolism in the restroom of the New York City BMG/RCA studio while attempting to record the cast album for Grand Hotel. The album had been delayed for years because of rights issues and legal disputes over the score. For the cast recording Brent Barrett ultimately performed the role of the Baron, but Carroll was featured on a bonus track: singing the Baron's solo number "Love Can't Happen", recorded during his cabaret performance at Steve McGraw's on 14 February 1991 with Wally Harper at the piano.
Broadway
- Where's Charley? (1974) (understudy)
- Rodgers & Hart (1975)
- Oh, Brother! (1981)
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982) - Adam
- Wind in the Willows (1985) - Rat
- Chess (1988) - Anatoly
- Cafe Crown (1989)
- Grand Hotel (1989) - Baron Felix von Gaigern
Off-Broadway
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 1976 (originated the title role at the Brooklyn Academy of Music)
- La bohème 1984 (at The Joseph Papp Public Theater)
Television
- Ball Four
- The Rockford Files, "Love Is the Word"
- CHiPs
- Knots Landing, "Let Me Count the Ways"
- Musical Chairs
- Paris, "Pawn"
- The Promise of Love
- The Secret War of Jackie's Girls
- The Seduction of Miss Leona
- Splendor in the Grass
- To Love Again
- To Race the Wind
External links
- New York Times obituary
- David James Carroll at the Internet Movie Database
- David Carroll at the Internet Broadway Database
- David Carroll at the Internet Off-Broadway Database