Larry Kert

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Larry Kert performing on the Ed Sullivan show (1958)

Larry Kert (December 5, 1930 - June 5, 1991) was an American actor, singer, and dancer.

He was born Frederick Lawrence Kert in Los Angeles, California. His first professional credit was as a member of a theatrical troupe called the Upstarts in the 1950 Broadway revue Tickets, Please!. After a seven-month run, he worked sporadically until 1957, when he was cast as Tony in the Broadway production of the Arthur Laurents-Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical West Side Story, a modernized adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in upper Manhattan. According to Laurents in his memoir Original Story By, director-choreographer Jerome Robbins frequently clashed with Kert, publicly chastising him for being a "faggot," despite the fact that Robbins himself and most of the creative team was gay. Kert did not repeat his role in the 1961 film version of the show.

For several years, Kert experienced a streak of bad luck. A Family Affair limped along for three months in early 1962. He was a member of the cast of the infamous ill-fated musical version of Truman Capote's novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, which closed during previews in December 1966. His next project, La Strada (1969), closed on opening night.

His big break came as a replacement. Dean Jones, better known for his roles in Disney films than he was as a musical performer, had been cast as the lead in Sondheim's Company (1971), but was overstressed due to ongoing divorce proceedings. Soon after opening night, he was replaced by Kert; the critics returned a second time and raved about his dynamic performance. So acclaimed was he that the Tony Awards nominating committee that year allowed him to compete as Best Actor in a Musical, an honor usually allowed only for the performer who originates the role.

As it had already been recorded, the original cast album did not include Kert. However, when the cast travelled to London to reprise their roles, Columbia Records took him into the studio to record new tracks to lay down over Jones' removed ones. This "new" recording was released as the Original London Cast recording. In 1998, when Sony Music who had acquired the Columbia catalogues, released a newly-digitalized CD version of the original Broadway cast recording, Kert's rendition of "Being Alive," the show's final number, was included as a bonus track.

Kert never achieved the growing and ongoing success his stint in Company suggested he was destined to enjoy. In 1975, he appeared in A Musical Jubilee, a revue that lasted barely three months. Rags (1986) closed two days after it opened, and in his final show, Legs Diamond (1988), he was merely a standby for star Peter Allen, not even having the opportunity to play a secondary role, as is usually the case with standbys and understudies.

One of Kert's last recordings was the 1987 2-CD studio cast album of the complete scores of two George and Ira Gershwin musicals - Of Thee I Sing and its sequel, Let 'Em Eat Cake. This was the first time both scores had been recorded completely, and the recordings were the first of many made possible because of the now famous discovery in a Secaucus, New Jersey warehouse of many original show manuscripts by the great songwriters of the American musical theatre.

Kert made brief appearances in the feature films Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and New York, New York (1977). His television credits include guest appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Bell Telephone Hour, Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, and Love, American Style.

Kert died in New York City from AIDS-related complications. His older sister, who survives him, is singer Anita Ellis, noted for dubbing Rita Hayworth and other non-singing stars in their films.