Larry Riley was an American actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, best known for his role as C.J. Memphis in the film A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story is a 1984 drama film directed by Norman Jewison, based upon Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Off Broadway production A Soldier's Play. A black officer is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II...

 (1984) and as Frank Williams in the prime-time TV soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Knots Landing

Knots Landing

Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...

.

Early life and career

Born in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Riley began acting in high school before studying drama at the University of Memphis

University of Memphis

The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....

. He made his professional stage debut in 1971, and went on to appear in various stage productions on and off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 including A Broadway Musical

A Broadway Musical

A Broadway Musical is a musical with a book by William F. Brown, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The Broadway production closed after 14 previews and only one performance on December 21, 1978....

, Shakespeare's Cabaret, I Love My Wife

I Love My Wife

I Love My Wife is a musical with a book and lyrics by Michael Stewart and music by Cy Coleman, based on a play by Luis Rego.A satire of the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the musical takes place on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, where two married couples who have been close friends...

, and Big River

Big River (musical)

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a musical with a book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller.Based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it features music in the bluegrass and country styles in keeping with the setting of the novel...

, a musical based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...

. In 1982, Riley won a Clarence Derwent

Clarence Derwent Awards

The Clarence Derwent Awards are theatre awards given annually by the Actors' Equity Association on Broadway in the United States and by Equity, the performers union, in the West End in the United Kingdom....

 and Obie Award

Obie Award

The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...

 for his performance in A Soldier's Play

A Soldier's Play

A Soldier's Play is a drama by Charles Fuller. The play uses a murder mystery to explore the complicated feelings of anger and resentment that some African Americans have toward one another, and the ways in which many black Americans have absorbed white racist attitudes.This play is loosely based...

. He later reprised the role in the 1984 film

A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story is a 1984 drama film directed by Norman Jewison, based upon Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Off Broadway production A Soldier's Play. A black officer is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II...

 based on the play. From 1984 to 1985, Riley portrayed the role of Curtis Taylor, Jr. in the national touring company of Dreamgirls. He also appeared as the leading player in the U.S. touring company of Pippin

Pippin (musical)

Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...

.

From 1980 to 1982, Riley portrayed Calvin Barnes in the daytime soap opera The Doctors. He later had guest roles on Hill Street Blues

Hill Street Blues

Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...

 and Miami Vice

Miami Vice

Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...

, and appeared in Louis Malle

Louis Malle

Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...

's 1984 film Crackers

Crackers (1984 film)

Crackers is a 1984 American film directed by Louis Malle. It was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.Written by Jeffrey Fiskin, the film is about a group of small-time out-of-luck thieves, led by the unemployed Weslake , who attempt to rob the neighborhood pawn shop owned by...

. In 1985, Riley starred in the short-lived sitcom Stir Crazy, based on the 1980 film of the same name

Stir Crazy (film)

Stir Crazy is a 1980 American comedy film starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as down-on-their-luck friends who are given 125-year prison sentences after being framed for a bank robbery; while in prison they befriend other inmates and ultimately escape. In 2000, Total Film magazine voted it the...

. In 1988, he won the role of Frank Williams on the long-running nighttime soap Knots Landing, becoming the series' first regular African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 cast member. The role garnered Riley a Soap Opera Digest Award

Soap Opera Digest Awards

The Soap Opera Digest Awards were an awards show held by the daytime television magazine Soap Opera Digest. The awards were founded in 1984 to replace the less-lavish Soapy Award; those awards shows had run since 1977. The Soap Opera Digest Awards are meant to promote excellence in the soap opera...

 for Outstanding Actor in a Primetime Supporting Role in 1991. Riley also created a musical tribute to Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan

Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...

 entitled "Let The Good Times Roll

Let the Good Times Roll

Let the Good Times Roll may refer to:*"Let the Good Times Roll" *"Let the Good Times Roll" *Let the Good Times Roll , a 1999 album by B.B...

", which enjoyed success at the Cinegrill of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic Spanish-style hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Named after Theodore Roosevelt and financed by a group including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Louis B. Mayer, it first opened its doors on May 15, 1927...

 in 1988.
He has also voiced the arch villain Dumping Jack Trash in the children's animated series Fantastic Max

Fantastic Max

Fantastic Max is an animated cartoon series created by Kalisto Ltd. and Hanna-Barbera Productions and in association with S4C. It centres on a diaper-wearing toddler with a mohawk named Max , who has adventures in outer space with two of his toys: FX, a pull string alien doll from a planet called...

.

In addition to acting, Riley was also a musician and singer. He sang in several episodes of Knots Landing and also composed the score for several episodes.

Illness and death

In May 1989, Riley entered rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. The following year, he discovered he was HIV positive. According to his wife Nina, Riley "was not gay. He was not bisexual. He did not use needles at all. He speculated it was from a woman. Because he was quite the womanizer." Fearful that news of his diagnosis would ruin his career, Riley did not disclose his illness to anyone except his wife and continued working on Knots Landing. To explain his dramatic weight loss, Riley claimed that he was suffering from kidney failure due to high blood pressure. Riley's true illness was revealed by his wife and doctor after his death.

On June 6, 1992, Riley died of AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

-related renal failure

Renal failure

Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...

 in Burbank, California

Burbank, California

Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

 at the age of 39, only fourteen days short of his 40th birthday. He was survived by his second wife Nina and a son, Larry, Jr.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980–1982	The Doctors	Calvin Barnes	Unknown episodes
1982	Muggable Mary, Street Cop	Steve Kelsey	Television movie
1982	Hill Street Blues Hill Street Blues Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...	Vernon Tucker	Episode: "Little Boil Blue"
1984	A Soldier's Story A Soldier's Story A Soldier's Story is a 1984 drama film directed by Norman Jewison, based upon Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Off Broadway production A Soldier's Play. A black officer is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II...	C.J. Memphis
1984	Crackers Crackers (1984 film) Crackers is a 1984 American film directed by Louis Malle. It was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.Written by Jeffrey Fiskin, the film is about a group of small-time out-of-luck thieves, led by the unemployed Weslake , who attempt to rob the neighborhood pawn shop owned by...	Boardwalk
1984	Miami Vice Miami Vice Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...	Bobby Price	Episode: "Cool Runnin'"
1985	Stir Crazy	Harry Fletcher	9 episodes
1985	Badge of the Assassin	Herman Bell	Television movie
1986	The Twilight Zone	Joshua	Episode: "Quarantine Quarantine (The Twilight Zone) "Quarantine" is the second segment of the seventeenth episode from the first season of the television series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:... "
1986	The Fall Guy The Fall Guy The Fall Guy is an American action/adventure television program produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981 to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas. Majors and Barr are the only two actors to appear in all 112 episodes of the series...	Cleveland Tudor	Episode: "Two On a Skip"
1986	One Police Plaza	Detective Starling	Television movie
1987	Spenser: For Hire Spenser: For Hire Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....	Bo Braxton	Episode: "One for My Daughter"
1987	Long Gone Long Gone (film) Long Gone is a 1987 baseball film by HBO based on Paul Hemphill's 1979 book of the same name. The made-for-television film was directed by Martin Davidson and starred William Petersen, Virginia Madsen and Dermot Mulroney. Outside North America, the movie was known as and titled, Stogies.-Plot:The...	Joe Louis Brown	Television movie
1988–1992	Knots Landing Knots Landing Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...	Frank Williams	111 episodes
1988	Dead Solid Perfect Dead Solid Perfect Dead Solid Perfect is a 1988 American film following the life of a professional golfer on the PGA Tour. It was produced by HBO films and based on the novel of the same name by Dan Jenkins....	Spec	Television movie
1988	Fantastic Max Fantastic Max Fantastic Max is an animated cartoon series created by Kalisto Ltd. and Hanna-Barbera Productions and in association with S4C. It centres on a diaper-wearing toddler with a mohawk named Max , who has adventures in outer space with two of his toys: FX, a pull string alien doll from a planet called...	Dumping Jack Trash (voice)	3 episodes
1989	Unconquered	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.	Television movie
1989	Polly	Reverend Gillis	Television movie
1990	Polly: Comin' Home!	Reverend Gillis	Television movie

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title of work	Result
1982	Clarence Derwent Awards Clarence Derwent Awards The Clarence Derwent Awards are theatre awards given annually by the Actors' Equity Association on Broadway in the United States and by Equity, the performers union, in the West End in the United Kingdom....	Most Promising Male	A Soldier's Play	Won
1982	Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...	A Soldier's Play	Nominated
1990	Soap Opera Digest Awards Soap Opera Digest Awards The Soap Opera Digest Awards were an awards show held by the daytime television magazine Soap Opera Digest. The awards were founded in 1984 to replace the less-lavish Soapy Award; those awards shows had run since 1977. The Soap Opera Digest Awards are meant to promote excellence in the soap opera...	Outstanding Supporting Actor: Prime Time	Knots Landing	Nominated
1991	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor: Prime Time	Knots Landing	Won
1992	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Outstanding Actor: Prime Time	Knots Landing	Nominated

External links

• ArtistswithAIDS.org