American actor
He collapsed and died in Spanaway, Washington while filming "Rose Red" .
Received numerous death threats after he played a character who tried to rape Edith Bunker in "All in the Family" {Ediths 50th Birthday (#8.4)} (October 16, 1977).
His wife, Carol Muske-Dukes , wrote a book titled "Life After Death", where a woman, upset at her husband for leaving her and their child, says to him, "Why dont you just die?". The next day, he dies of a heart attack on a tennis court. Shortly after the book was completed, David Dukes went to play tennis and died of a heart attack.
Was Rob Reiner s first choice to play the adult Gordie LaChance, the narrator of Stand by Me , before being replaced by Richard Dreyfuss. In the first long shot of the adult Gordie, you can still see that it is Dukes, not Dreyfuss, sitting in the car. The story is about the characters first experiences with death. Sadly, Dukes died while appearing in another Stephen King adaptation.
He was nominated for Broadways 1980 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for Martin Sherman s "Bent".
He was nominated for a 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play for "Design for Living", at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
After his death, a David Coleman Dukes Memorial Scholarship was established at the University of Southern California School of Theatre. It is presented yearly to "a junior B.A. or B.F.A. acting student who shows exemplary dedication to the craft of acting". There is also an annual invitational tennis tournament named in his memory.
Studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California.
Classmates at Julliard School of Drama included Patty LuPone, Kevin Kline and David Ogden Stiers.
On Broadway, he played both "Frankenstein" and "Dracula".
Attended and graduated from Redwood High School in Larkspur, Marin County, California.
He was awarded the 1977 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance for "Travesties" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
The thing about television is that it fades very quickly. That so-called,stardom thing is very elusive. Television churns out so much so fast,that each new thing erases the last. Enduring stardom, I think, takes a,body of work.
