Charles Ludlam (L) & Everett Quinton (R) in 1984's The Mystery of Irma Vep (Image from here; unknown)

The death, at 70, of Obie-winning theater legend Everett Quinton has been announced by friends on social media.

Quinton, the surviving partner of Charles Ludlam (1943-1987), recalled in an AM New York interview in 2015 that his childhood was rocky:

A friend of mine said, “We were poor but didn’t know it.” Well, we were poor and we knew it! My parents didn’t really know up from down and never encouraged me in my acting. Oh, but I remember for my first audition for the Gallery Players in Brooklyn, I was living at home and so nervous. My mother gave me a Valium. She died of a heart attack two years before I really started acting and my father died afterwards of cancer. I had just gotten into [Ludlam’s Wagner spoof] Der Ring Gott Farblonjet and my name was listed in the cast in The New York Times. I remember taking that to the hospital and showing it to him.

Quinton acted in many of Ludlam's productions, including The Secret Lives of the Sexists (1982), Galas (1983), The Mystery of Irma Vep (1984), Salammbo (1985), The Artificial Jungle (1986), Medea (1987), and other NYC plays. He directed several Ludlam revivals and was a member of and former AD of the Ridiculous Theater Company (1987-1997).

He also directed and starred in his own plays, including A Tale of Two Cities (1988), Linda (1993), Carmen (1994) and Movieland (1994). He cited Caged (1950) and other Million Dollar Movie (1955-1966) selections as his greatest sources of inspiration.

Quinton cutting a taciturn figure in Bros (Image via video still)

Quinton's  mainstream work on TV included Miami Vice (1985) — his television debut came with the glamorous character Homosexual Pusher — as well as Law & Order (1997) and Nurse Jackie (2013), and he appeared in such films as Legal Eagles (1986), Forever, Lulu (1986), From the Hip (1987), Hello Again (1987), Natural Born Killers (1994), Pollock (2000) and his final film role, as Melvin Funk in last year's Bros (2022).

Quinton was preceded in death by Ludlam, who died of AIDS complications at 44. In the paper of record's obit of Ludlam, who had been on the brink of crossover stardom, Quinton was described as his longtime companion.