The triple threat with an extensive Broadway career passed away just one day before his 68th birthday.
Broadway performer Adrian Bailey died Sunday at a New York rehabilitation facility at the age of 67. His brother, Karl Bailey, shared with The Hollywood Reporter that the actor had recently fallen in his apartment. Born on September 23rd, 1957, the Detroit native made his Broadway debut in Your Arms Too Short to Box With God at the Lyceum Theatre in 1976. His decades-long career saw roles in Sophisticated Ladies, My One and Only, Legs Diamond, Prince of Central Park, Black and Blue, Jelly’s Last Jam, The Who’s Tommy, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, The Wild Party, La Cage aux Folles, and Hot Feet.
In 2008, prior to a matinee performance of The Little Mermaid, Bailey sustained major injuries after falling 36 feet through a trapdoor of a suspended boat. The King Triton understudy had to undergo surgery on both of his wrists. The actor went on to sue Disney and the companies that constructed the sets and motion-control systems. In Bailey’s suit, he shared that he suffered several fractures on his back, hip, pelvis, coccyx, sternum, ribs and foot as well as herniated vertebral discs that required over 5 surgeries to fix. The injury ended his Broadway career, leaving Bailey with long term health issues that forced him to relearn how to walk.
Bailey always knew he wanted to perform, leaving for New York right out of high school. The actor also appeared in 1978’s The Wiz, 2004’s The Kings of Brooklyn, and HBO’s 1991 The Josephine Baker Story.
Actor Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, who Bailey appeared with in My One and Only, honored the late performer in a heartfelt Instagram post.
Bailey is survived by siblings Karl, Louis, Frank, and Angela.