Famous comedian Joel Gray heading for a stroll through the bustling streets of New York City on Friday.
The star (born Joel David Katz) was all smiles as he made his way through the bustling streets of Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood, and was helped by two male friends who walked arm in arm with him.
Now 91, the Oscar, Tony and Golden Globe Award winner enjoyed the outdoors on a day with temperatures hovering between the mid-50s Fahrenheit and the low 70s.
He seemed to struggle at times, but the two male friends kept him from tumbling.
With an infectious grin, the actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theater director stepped outside, dressed in a long army jacket with gray sweatpants and matching sneakers.
Beaming: Joel Gray, 91, seemed to be in a good mood as he went for a walk on Saturday, with the help of two male friends, in New York City’s West Village neighborhood
Gray began his career, at the age of 10, on the Cleveland Play House children’s theater program Curtain Pullers in the early 1940s, appearing in such productions as Grandmother Slyboots, Jack of Tarts and a starring role in their mainstage production of On Borrowed Time .
And by 1952, he was performing as a featured performer at the famed Copacabana nightclub in New York City, at the ripe young age of 20.
In a breakout role, Gray played the Master of Ceremonies in the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, for which he won the Tony Award.
Gray would reprise the role in the 1972 film adaptation directed by Bob Fosse from a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen, which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in March 1973.
Its Oscar win was part of a near-sweep at Cabaret, with Liza Minnelli winning Best Actress and Fosse taking home Best Director, though it lost the Best Picture award to The Godfather.
A stage actor at heart, Gray’s Broadway credits include Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Stop the World – I Want to Get Off (1962), Half a Sixpence (1965), George M! (1968), Goodtime Charley ((1975), The Grand Tour (1979), Chicago (1996), Wicked (2003) and Anything Goes ((2011).
Showing off his range when it comes to entertainment, the Cleveland native appeared as a panelist on the TV game show What’s My Line? (1967), and was also the first Mystery Guest in syndication in 1968.
He also had a slew of guest starring roles throughout his nearly eight decades in television, culminating in an Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series Emmy nomination for his recurring role as Jacob Prossman on the series Brooklyn Bridge (1992-1993).
On the road: The Oscar, Tony, and Golden Globe Award winner donned a green jacket and gray sweatpants for the outing
Longevity: Gray has had a career spanning nearly eight decades in entertainment, beginning in 1952 as a 10-year-old, which has lasted until his last television credit in 2022
As for personal life, Gary married actress and singer Jo Wilder in 1958, but the union would end in divorce in 1982, but not before they welcomed their daughter Jennifer Gray, who is best known for her role in Dirty Dancing, and a son James Gray, who is chief.
But after 24 years of marriage and two children, Gray came out publicly as a gay man in 2015 at the age of 82.
In an interview with People he called his time married to the actress the “happiest of my life” and claimed he was not leading a double life, but was “mad in love” with a woman.
As he slowly came to terms with that “other part of who I am,” he revealed that all those close to him had known about his sexuality for years.
His daughter, Jennifer, would later reveal how she found out in the late 1980s, during a conversation with her then-boyfriend Matthew Broderick’s mother, Patricia Broderick.
Breakout: Gray is best known for his role as master of ceremonies in the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, for which he won a Tony Award; he would reprise the role in the 1972 film adaptation which was directed by Bob Fosse which earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor
Personal life: The actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theater director was married to actress and singer Jo Wilder from 1958 to 1982; they are pictured in 1982
Family Life: Gray and Wilder had two children, including Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Gray; they are all pictured together in 1987; Jennifer would later reveal that she found out her father was gay in the late 1980s through Mathew Broderick’s mother Patricia Broderick
She chose to use a homophobic slur to ask if Gray knew her father was gay, claiming that Patricia, a playwright, blurted out, “You know your daddy’s off*g.”
“All I know, all I knew at the time was that it felt like it was a sniper attack. The idea was that I was a fool and everyone knew it but me,” she said People in April 2022, while promoting her memoir Out Of The Corner.
“Maybe she was offended by my lack of knowledge,” she said of her motivation. ‘I don’t know what she was thinking. She was, uh, she was a tricky personality. I don’t know how else to say it. For example, she was a truth teller, truth bombs. A Cassandra. She was, like, no matter what.”
Despite his advanced age, Gray has worked throughout the years, most recently credited with a role in the FX drama thriller The Old Man (2022), starring Jeff Bridges, and the biographical musical film Tick, Tick. .. Boom! (2021).