Michael Jeter

Michael Jeter (/ˈdʒiːtər/; August 26, 1952 – March 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his career on stage and screen, Jeter played diverse characters. He won a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He portrayed Herman Stiles on the sitcom Evening Shade from 1990 until 1994.

Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. He studied at Memphis State University and later pursued a career in acting. He made his Broadway debut acting in the musical Once in a Lifetime (1979), followed by G. R. Point. For his role as Otto Kringelein in the musical Grand Hotel (1989) he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Jeter also portrayed Giuseppe Zangara in the musical Assassins (1989).

Jeter gained fame for his roles in The Fisher King (1991) and The Green Mile (1999). His other notable film roles include in Zelig (1983), Miller's Crossing (1990), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Air Bud (1997), Mouse Hunt (1997), Patch Adams (1998), Jurassic Park III (2001), Open Range (2003), and The Polar Express (2004). He also appeared on Sesame Street's Elmo's World as the other Mister Noodle from 2000 to 2003.

Early life and education

Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, on August 26, 1952. His mother, Virginia (née Raines), was a housewife. His father, William Claud Jeter, was a dentist.^[1] Jeter had one brother and four sisters.^[2] Jeter was a student at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) when his interests changed from medicine to acting. He performed in several plays and musicals at the Circuit Theatre and its partner theatre, the Playhouse on the Square, in midtown Memphis. He left Memphis to further pursue his stage career in Baltimore, Maryland.

Career

Jeter's extreme flexibility and high energy led Tommy Tune to cast him in the off-Broadway play Cloud 9 in 1981.^[3] He received acclaim for his role in the Broadway musical Grand Hotel, for which he won a Tony Award. He subsequently starred in the CBS sitcom Evening Shade, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance. Much of his work specialised in playing eccentric, pretentious, or wimpy characters, as in The Fisher King, Waterworld, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Green Mile and Drop Zone. In The Fisher King, Jeter portrayed "an unnamed homeless cabaret singer", and "shimmies across the screen with boundless confidence, turning what might have been a grotesque, or at least merely humorous, part into something noble, even indomitable... In a film unafraid of big acting, Jeter goes bigger than anyone."^[4] Occasionally, Jeter was able to stray from type for more diverse characters, such as those he portrayed in Jurassic Park III, Air Bud, and Open Range. Jeter is perhaps most known for his role as convicted felon Eduard Delacroix in The Green Mile, a role for which he was nominated along with the rest of the cast for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

He also played Mr. Noodle's brother, Mister Noodle, on Sesame Street from 2000 to 2003. He appeared in an episode of Touched by an Angel in 1999 as Gus, an insurance salesman who arrives in Las Vegas, in the episode "The Man Upstairs".^[5] His last two appearances were in the films Open Range and The Polar Express. Both films were in post-production at the time of his death and, when released, contained a dedication to his memory.^[6][7] The season 35 premiere of Sesame Street, a special entitled "The Street We Live On", was similarly dedicated to Jeter.

Personal life and death

Jeter was gay and was in a relationship with his partner, Sean Blue, from 1995 until Jeter's death in 2003.

He was HIV-positive and publicly disclosed his diagnosis in a 1997 interview on Entertainment Tonight. Despite this, he remained healthy for many years.^[8] While accepting his 1990 Tony Award, Jeter also announced that he was in recovery from substance abuse.^[9]

On March 30, 2003, Blue found Jeter dead at his home in Hollywood Hills, California; he was 50 years old.^[10] According to Blue, the cause of death was complications following an epileptic seizure. Jeter was cremated, and his ashes were given to Blue.^[11]

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theater

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ "William Claude Jeter (1943)". University of Tennessee. March 10, 2010. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
2. ^ "Michael Jeter, 50, Dies; Won Acting Prizes". The New York Times. April 2, 2003. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
3. ^ "Cloud 9". Lortel Archives. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
4. ^ Koresky, Michael. "Michael's Turn: Michael Jeter in The Fisher King". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
5. ^ "Touched By An Angel Episode 516: "The Man Upstairs"". Touched.com. February 21, 1999. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
6. ^ Rooney, David (October 24, 2004). "Review: 'The Polar Express'". Variety. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
7. ^ Open Range film credits.
8. ^ "Healthy Despite His Hiv, Jeter Says It's Nothing To Hide". Sun Sentinel. December 6, 1999. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
9. ^ Ferber, Lawrence (May 13, 2003). "In memoriam. Michael Jeter". The Advocate. ' (889): 62. Here Publishing. ISSN 0001-8996
10. ^ Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie (August 31, 2004). "Actor Michael Jeter Dead At 52". CBS News. Retrieved February 28, 2014.^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "Corrections". The Advocate. Here. September 17, 2004. p. 6. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
12. ^ "Michael Jeter (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 24, 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
13. ^ "Michael Jeter: Biography". MSN Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
14. ^ Michael Jeter, 50; 'Mr. Noodle' on Sesame Street by Myrna Oliver, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2003.
15. ^ "'Sesame Street' actor Michael Jeter dies". United Press International, Inc.. April 1, 2003. Retrieved September 15, 2018.

External links

• Michael Jeter at IMDb