Robert Joel

Who was Robert Joel?

Robert Joel was an American actor. He was born Robert Joel McLane, and was sometimes credited under the name Robert McLane. He grew up on a farm in South Carolina and graduated from Furman University. He starred in Blue Summer with Bo White and again with White in A Very Natural Thing.

Joel played the lead, David, a gay ex-monk, who finds love in New York City. His other co-stars were Curt Gareth, Jay Pierce, and Vito Russo, who went on to write The Celluloid Closet. Joel also appeared in Russ Meyer's Up!, Little Murders, Barbara, Arthur Kopit's Indians on Broadway, and a 1971 PBS television drama, They. He died of AIDS in 1992.