COMPOSER-ACTOR KEITH PRUITT DEAD AT 47
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Composed Major Symphonic Works & Ballets
TV Star Survived Vicious Hate Crime Attack in 1994
TV Star Survived Vicious Hate Crime Attack in 1994
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Keith Pruitt
The worlds of classical music and film & television are mourning the tragic death of our good friend And partying pal composer and actor Keith Douglas Pruitt who was found dead in his Greenwich Village apartment on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.Police responding to pleas from his family entered the apartment to find him on a living room sofa. Initial autopsy reports indicate that he choked to death. He had been treated for esophageal problems stemming from a home fire in which he was badly injured last year. Further results are still pending.The Kansas City, Kansas born (October 12, 1961) Pruitt was something of an anomaly in the world of classical music as he supported his composing career by acting in film and soap operas such as “As the World Turns” and “Loving” among others.The son of inventor/engineer Norman Wallace Pruitt and Emma Jean Thompson Pruitt, he was raised in Annandale, Virginia and graduated from Falls Church School as valedictorian and was drum major for the school’s award winning band.Mr. Pruitt attended Duke University as the recipient of the A.J. Fletcher Scholarship for Piano. He was winner of the Duke University Concerto Competition and graduated summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He received a fellowship to attend the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and a full scholarship to the City University of New York Ph.D. Program where he studied with Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Del Tredici.Mr. Pruitt’s compositions have been commissioned and premiered by the Florida Philharmonic, the San Jose Symphony, the New York City Ballet, Pascal Rioult Dance Company, the Guggenheim Museum‘s “Works in Process” series, the Cowles Charitable Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the New York Chamber Ensemble and the Cape May Festival Orchestra. Mr. Pruitt supported his musical ambitions by starring in a number of New York based daytime dramas including The Guiding Light and As the World Turns as “Frank Wendall” and Loving as “Flynn Riley”. It also allowed him to introduce his music to a wide television audience.It was during his stint on the latter show that he and a male companion Jacques Rosas, holding hands on a Greenwich Village street, were savagely beaten by a trio of young men who shouted anti-gay epithets as they beat the pair with golf clubs. Pruitt and his partner would not have the matter swept under the shroud of corporate communications and participated fully in the prosecution of the men which resulted in their being convicted and sent to prison. Since that time the openly gay artist became very involved in Anti-violence projects.He was also featured in the John Waters’ movie Hairspray playing the lead singer of a rock band and as the lead in Carlo Nero’s film, Larry’s Visit.Several years ago, he founded the Keith Pruitt Piano Studio where he taught gifted young New York area students both performance and composition. Mr. Pruitt is survived by his mother, Jean Pruitt and sister Melanie Pruitt of Annandale, Virginia, a brother Steve Pruitt and nephew Craig Pruitt both of Buffalo, New York.A Celebration of his life hosted by his friends Jacques Rosas , Edward Callaghan, Charles Hamlen, James Edstrom and John Wegorzewski will take place at Shop Studios, 442 West 49th Street on Thursday, November at 6pm. In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations in his memory be made to Classical Action, Performing Arts Against AIDS, 165 West 46th Street, Suite 1310, New York, New York 10036.
Comments
Blessings to his family as they struggle with this tragedy.
I also remember that many of the teenage girls had crushes on him and wrote two make-believe soap operas that involved Keith. One called “One Length to Swim” and the other “As the Pool Turns.” Keith was in college at the time and I find it fitting to find out that he went on to act in soap operas. Keith was handsome and had a charm, charisma, and swagger like no one I have known. He was patient and kind. I looked up to him so much as a kid. He was a role model and sort of like a big brother. He was just plan fun to be around as a kid. He made a community for us as kids, using the swim team, who growing up in suburban sprawl could have been doing other non-productive things during our summers. I think that Keith’s influence on me those few years allowed me to better weather the adolescent and family issues that were looming in my near future. I am so lucky to have known him.
After Keith’s tenure as our swim coach I remember going to see him perform some of his compositions over at the Northern Virginia Community College campus. It was a wonderful experience and made me realize Keith’s splendid talent and depth as an artist. He was not just my swim coach. Around that time I got my first synthesizer. Today I still write and compose electronic music. I wish I had gotten in touch with Keith before his death, because I know he would have been thrilled to discuss, listen, and talk with me about music. It is so sad that we miss opportunities to connect with people in our lives.
The last time I saw Keith was summer day when I was in high school. I was at the gas station fueling my car and filling up a can of gas to mow lawns. He pulled up on his motorcycle behind me and recognized me. I was assistant swim coach at the time and told him that I was using so much of what he had taught me. We chatted briefly and then he was off on his motorcycle. I know I will always remember Keith and am so sad that I did not get a chance to know him as an adult.
James
Keith, as a young college student, was recruited in the 80’s by Linda Spooner, a swim team parent , to coach The Camelot Knights, an Annandale, Virginia community team in the Northern Virginia Swim League Association. As swim team parent representatives, my husband and I found Keith to be an absolute pleasure to work with because of his charisma, maturity, sense of responsibility, intelligence, dedication, self-effacing personality; but most of all, his sense of fun and good sportsmanship he imparted to all our kids. All of these traits made him a great role model for our swimmers.
I knew then that Keith was artistically talented and what he was able to accomplish over the years in the music field does not surprise me. I couldn’t help but reflect on a conversation I remember from those days. His last season as coach, Keith was wrestling with which direction he should take in his life: follow a more traditional course that his family wanted him to pursue or follow his heart into the music field. It looks like he followed his passion and shared his musical talents throughout the country! Again, as Michael P. said, what “talent and depth” as an artist.
Unfortunately, we lost track of Keith over the years, but his was a personality that we would never forget. We all benefitted from our exposure to Keith. He is missed I know. What a tragic loss to all.
Diana M.
Thanks so much for leaving this tribute to Keith. I typed into Google the words, Keith I miss you" and this website came up. I miss him so much as well. I helped him get his firt coaching job at the Falls Church Swim Club becuase I was a lifeguard there. I was a close friend who also lost touch when he moved to New York. I also shared in his frustration in making career choices. He truly could've succeeded in any career field. He had perfect SATs but as you stated, pursued the arts. You may not know but Keith was a victim of groundless hate and suffered brain injuries from beaten an inch from his life. If we can take any message to be learned from his life. It is this. He was a loving individual and over the years, he lost faith in humanity and his ability to cope with his physical losses that most likely affected his ability to meet his full human potential. It was a slow death. We all must work to prevent hatred towards all people. I know he is in a safe place now and is watching us all and helping everyone he can by the lessons he taught us. He was always kind to me through the years even when we went our separate ways to live our lives. The world is truly not the same without him and sometimes I get angry he wasn't stronger but I know he was one of the strongest people I ever met. So for him to survive as long as he did tells me he suffered deeply.