Keith Pruitt

One of the few links that had much about him:

... and his IMDb page:

As Frank Wendall, did he drag Julie back to Seattle? I always wished he were written in more.

Kieth was outed to the ATWT producers by an associate writer (female) who had a crush on him and was pissed off he turned out be gay. She said in a meeting that she knew he was gay and he was therefore unbeliveabke playing a macho leading man. He was off the show in less that two months. The writer in this instance used to brag about the incident -evil.

Which writer, R4?

His IMDb page doesn't list Guiding Light, but the obit on the blog site does. Maybe he was a piano player at a restaurant or something in the background like that.

This is the thread from 2008 shortly after he died:

Bump, all the links on here were the few that I had found. Anyone else remember anything about him?

Had a tough life there. That gay bashing was extreme and then he died from complications from a fire, right?

Knew him a little and liked him a lot. Still have a cool "Hairspray" card of him that he signed and sent to me -- not an autograph fan thing, more of a professional colleague. He was great in that small role as the Lafayettes and a talented musician in general. And the gay thing getting him offed from the soap shows you what life was like then. He said his lack of being hired was "like being bashed all over again".

From what I read the night I posted this here, it seems he never fully recovered from the bashing he and his boyfriend endured. Maybe he was able to move past it on some level, but since it affected his health and appearance I'm sure that was a daily reminder. I still can't remember that scene from Hairspray, which I've seen a bunch of times -- was he in more than one scene? When in the film did he appear, what was going on in the plot etc. I was also hoping someone may have had a clip from one of his soap roles to try and jog my memory.

He sings (lip syncs) the old "hit" "Life's Too Short" (a bit ironic). And is adorable doing it. Later he has another scene with Amber where they flirt and then make out while the kids on the show for Kids Day all go "Ewwwww..." It's a small role but he does a lot with it and makes it memorable. And he was great looking in general.

P.S. He was billed as Keith Douglas at the time.

My mother thought he was the best thing in Hairspray.

Thanks for that info R11, when I watch that again someday I'll pay more attention to his scenes. It's been so long since I watched it, my brain gets crossed with the John Travolta musical version. I do remember the guy who played Corny Collins in the original film also used to be Simon on Guiding Light, I always recognize him because I used to think he was hot.