| Michael Jeter Actor Michael Jeter Dies At Age 50: You may not know the name but chances are this guy is one you will recall upon catching his picture. When my friend Melanie asked me who he was I said, he's the transvestite in The Fisher King. A great movie with an oddly moving performance by Jeter.
At the time of this writing the cause of death had not been determined though you can imagine a lot of articles (and obviously this one is no exception) will make note of the fact that in 1997 Jeter went public with the fact that he was HIV positive.
Often called an actor's actor by critics Jeter was not always the character actor who could make a single scene stand out from the rest.
Born August 26, 1952 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee Jeter originally began his career focus in the field of medicine until acting caught his eye while attending Memphis State University. Soon he found himself performing in small roles in the film world as of the late 70's and early 80's. It wasn't all clear sailing though as he suffered through some (sadly) all too typical pitfalls of drug and alcohol abuse.
By 1983 it seems he had had enough and abandoned acting, taking up the position of legal secretary until a casting director recalled this 5'4 red-headed man for a role on CBS's Designing Women. As if scripted, the producers who made Designing Women had another show in the works called Evening Shade slated to star Burt Reynolds. Jeter was soon cast on the show and two years into its 4 year run he won an Emmy for his role as assistant football coach Herman Stiles.
Within the last fourteen years Jeter established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the big screen, turning in memorable performances in such well-known flicks as The Fisher King, Waterworld, Miller's Crossing, The Green Mile, True Crime and Patch Adams.
At the time of his death he had been working on the latest Tom Hanks film, a Christmas movie directed by Robert Zemeckis called The Polar Express. According to producers there Jeter's work was mostly done so we will, along with the Kevin Costner film, Open Range be treated to a couple of new performances by this man posthumously.
| 
