Before taping episodes of the soap opera “All My Children” in New York City, Jeffrey Carlson would call a close friend from his time at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and read through his script.
Mr. Carlson, a stage actor at heart who’d starred on Broadway, gave extra special attention to a challenging storyline he’d taken on. He was playing the first transgender character to appear on daytime television — Zarf the British rockstar, who transitioned into a female named Zoe.
Mr. Carlson, who was not transgender himself, wanted to get the role right, recalled Chicago-based actress Susan Hart.
“He realized he was representing a group of people he was proud to get to know and represent,” she said. “He had hundreds and hundreds of fans who not only wrote to him but sent him gifts, teddy bears and trinkets.”
Mr. Carlson was found dead July 6 at his apartment in Andersonville. He was 48. The cause of death is pending, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“He hadn’t been feeling well in recent weeks. We are eager to learn what happened,” his sister said.
Mr. Carlson appeared in 59 episodes of “All My Children” in 2006 and 2007.
“He really knew his stuff,” said Eden Riegel, who portrayed Mr. Carlson’s love interest on the soap. “He was a Broadway actor, and he approached his role on the soap with just as much enthusiasm and respect for the craft.”
Mr. Carlson’s Broadway credits include starring roles in Edward Albee’s “The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?” alongside Bill Pullman, as well as in Rosie O’Donnell’s production of “Taboo.”
Mr. Carlson came to Chicago in 2006 to star as Prince Hal in “Henry IV, Part 1” and “Henry IV, Part 2” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The productions were transferred to the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, where The Guardian called him “a star in the making.”
Mr. Carlson made Chicago his off-and-on home base over the years as he took on roles at the Goodman Theatre and taught acting, while also traveling to appear in stage productions across the country.
“He loved it in Chicago. It was everything he wanted. He wasn’t a huge fan of Hollywood and California. He used to send me videos of himself just walking in Chicago. It was nice. He had a little family there. Everyone knew him,” his sister Elizabeth Gingras said.
Hart remembers first working with Mr. Carlson at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
“I was so dazzled after our first read-through and went up to him and said, ‘You’re the most gifted actor with Shakespeare language that I’ve ever heard and we have to be friends.’ And we became not only friends but dear, dear besties,” she said.
“He was immensely energetic; you could not take your eyes off him in any show that he was in ever. He had so much charisma and talent,” Hart said. “He was a masterful teacher and just beloved by hundreds of actors and students.”
Mr. Carlson also appeared in several movies including “Hitch,” “Backseat” and “The Killing Floor” and on the television show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
“He was revered as one of the premier classical stage actors in America, and that’s not as valuable for some as TV or movies, but to those of us who love classical theater, he was stellar in that category,” Hart said.
Acting was not always his calling. Mr. Carlson, who grew up in Long Beach, California, originally studied to become a veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, before switching majors.
“He had to treat a horse that got its eye caught on a fence, and between that and the castration of pigs, he was like, ‘That’s it. I think I’m done,’ ” said his younger sister.
He embraced training as an actor, sometimes causing a bit of eye-rolling among family members.
“He was always exercising his voice. He’d be in the shower and saying the word ‘movies’ in all different inflections and volumes: ‘mooovies’ ... ‘mooooovies!’ We loved it, but it was like ‘Oh my God!’ ” his sister recalled with a laugh.
“His career was exciting for us. It was like, ‘Where’s Jeff now?’ He always seemed to be all over the place. It was just great to watch. And he was the best uncle. And he was my best friend,” she said. “He put on puppet shows for me when we were little with my Cabbage Patch Dolls. And he’d do the same as an uncle using gummy bears.”
Mr. Carlson’s father was a developer and his mother worked as an esthetician until she stayed home to take care of her four kids.
His sister remembered the moment Mr. Carlson got into the Juilliard School, a prestigious training ground for actors in New York City.
“It was just the biggest deal in our family; we were just like all screaming, ‘Oh, my gosh!’”
A celebration of life is being planned in Chicago.
