R.I.P Peter White: ‘The Boys In The Band’ And ‘All My Children’ Star Dead At 86

Peter White, known for his role of Lincoln “Linc” Tyler in All My Children, and his starring role of Alan McCarthy in both the original stage production and first film adaptation of The Boys in the Band, died on Wednesday (Nov. 1) of melanoma in his home in Los Angeles, per The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

While the news was first reported by SoapHub.com, White’s All My Children co-star, Kathleen Noone, confirmed his passing to THR.

Born in New York City on Oct. 10, 1937, White graduated from Northwestern University and studied acting at the Yale School of Drama, per Entertainment Weekly. He made his soap opera debut on The Secret Storm in 1965-66, per IMDb.

White appeared in 12 episodes of All My Children over the course of 29 years (1976-2005), becoming the third actor to take on the role of Lincoln Tyler.

Mart Crowley’s production of The Boys in the Band, which debuted off-Broadway in 1968, followed a group of gay men who unite in New York City for a birthday party. Considered revolutionary for its time, the play was adapted into a film in 1970, in which White reprised his role.

In a 2008 interview with Soap Opera Digest, White recalled thinking, “‘I don’t need this risk,'” but was ultimately convinced to take the role in The Boys in the Band by actress Myrna Loy.

“I talked to Myrna — she became my mentor — and she said, ‘Peter, if you are going to be an actor, you are going to have to take some risks in your life,'” he shared.

He continued, “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.’ 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.”

He added, “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.”

The play was revived on Broadway in 2018, and underwent another film adaptation that hit Netflix in 2020, which reunited its previous on-stage stars, including Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto.

Other TV appearances of White’s included N.Y.P.D. (1968), The Greatest American Hero (1981), The Jeffersons (1982), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1989), Ally McBeal (1999), The West Wing (2000), Cold Case (2007), and more. His film credits included Dave (1993), Flubber (1997), Armageddon (1998), Thirteen Days (2000), and First Daughter (2004).