Roy London (March 3, 1943 â€" August 8, 1993) was an American actor,
acting coach and teacher.London was born and raised on the Upper West
Side of Manhattan, New York City. A math prodigy at age five, London
was on the radio show, Quiz Kids, and educated at the experimental
elementary school at Hunter College, NYC. In 1948 the school was
featured in Life magazine and shows little Roy telling an arresting
tale of death, transfiguration and group marriage involving Walt
Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. To graduate at twenty from
Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, London wrote a paper that
combined mathematical concepts and the precepts of theater.Upon
returning to New York, in 1963, he immediately found work, both on
Broadway and in the burgeoning Off-Broadway scene. He studied acting
at the Herbert Berghof Studio with Uta Hagen and was an integral
member of Joseph Chaiken's avant-garde, Open Theater. During this era,
London lived with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson.In
the late 1970s when London was on tour with Lynn Redgrave and
performing on stage at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles,
he decided to stay in Hollywood. As an actor, he appeared on
television in programs as widely diverse as WNET's USA Writer's
segment about Catcher in the Rye, (London is the only person to have
professionally portrayed Holden Caulfield and with J.D. Salinger's
approval) to the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, where he was
popular as a peeping-tom for several seasons. In commercials London
was an everyman, playing one of the Tang astronauts, the Williams
Lectric Shave man, the Western Auto man, and innumerable others. He
appeared on Falcon Crest, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, Momma's Place,
Fatal Vision and many more. In feature films, after a bit part in The
Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, London went on to roles in
Hardcore with George C. Scott, Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, William
Friedkin's Rampage and other films.
acting coach and teacher.London was born and raised on the Upper West
Side of Manhattan, New York City. A math prodigy at age five, London
was on the radio show, Quiz Kids, and educated at the experimental
elementary school at Hunter College, NYC. In 1948 the school was
featured in Life magazine and shows little Roy telling an arresting
tale of death, transfiguration and group marriage involving Walt
Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. To graduate at twenty from
Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, London wrote a paper that
combined mathematical concepts and the precepts of theater.Upon
returning to New York, in 1963, he immediately found work, both on
Broadway and in the burgeoning Off-Broadway scene. He studied acting
at the Herbert Berghof Studio with Uta Hagen and was an integral
member of Joseph Chaiken's avant-garde, Open Theater. During this era,
London lived with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson.In
the late 1970s when London was on tour with Lynn Redgrave and
performing on stage at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles,
he decided to stay in Hollywood. As an actor, he appeared on
television in programs as widely diverse as WNET's USA Writer's
segment about Catcher in the Rye, (London is the only person to have
professionally portrayed Holden Caulfield and with J.D. Salinger's
approval) to the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, where he was
popular as a peeping-tom for several seasons. In commercials London
was an everyman, playing one of the Tang astronauts, the Williams
Lectric Shave man, the Western Auto man, and innumerable others. He
appeared on Falcon Crest, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, Momma's Place,
Fatal Vision and many more. In feature films, after a bit part in The
Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, London went on to roles in
Hardcore with George C. Scott, Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, William
Friedkin's Rampage and other films.
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