Lenny Baker

Early years

Baker was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Bertha and William Baker. A 1962 graduate of Brookline High School, he received his college degree from Boston University, and performed in regional theater. He spent several summers at the O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.

Career

Baker appeared Off Broadway in plays such as Conerico Was Here to Stay, Paradise Gardens East, The Year Boston Won the Pennant, and Summertree, debuting on Broadway in 1974 in The Freedom of the City, performing in repertory in Secret Service and Boy Meets Girl, and in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry V and Measure for Measure with the Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival. He devoted himself to the production of new plays at The O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference where he worked with Werner Liepolt and many other young playwrights. He was highly praised by critics Clive Barnes and Walter Kerr and won the Tony Award for his performance in I Love My Wife.

In the course of his career Baker appeared in a number of television shows, such as Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files, and Taxi.

Far and away most prominent amongst his film roles, which included The Hospital and The Paper Chase, was Next Stop, Greenwich Village, for which he was widely praised by critics and for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Personal life

Baker's career was cut short by illness. Throat problems led to him leaving the cast of the pre-Broadway show Broadway, Broadway in 1978, and his final television performances were in 1979. He died on April 12, 1982 of cancer, although critic and LGBTQ activist David Ehrenstein later claimed his death was caused by AIDS. He had two brothers, Alan and Malcolm.

Stage