Gene Anthony Ray was born in Harlem, New
York City on 24th May 1962, making his star sign Gemini. Represented by the sign of the Twins,
Gemini's have been described as witty, charming, intelligent and agile although
on the downside they can be indecisive and unreliable.
Gene was raised by his Mother Jean, in the
Neighbourhood of West 153rd Street. He has an older Sister, Pearl and a younger
brother Nairobi. His father was a businessman and his Mother owned shops.
Gene stated he was 3 and a half when he
first started dancing. He had no formal training but would enter street dancing
competitions, which he usually won.
"All I ever wanted to do was dance. I wasn't interested in anything
else - It was just in me".
Gene
had skipped school to attend his first audition which was for the
"Fame" Movie. He was one of the last to be seen. Louis Falco the
choreographer loved Gene's raw talent and he was instantly given the role.
Gene's explosive performance and dancing
ability brought him much critical acclaim. He then worked on a French film
"Vendredi ou la vie sauvage" with Michael York, which was based on
Robison Crusoe. Then came the Pilot for the Fame TV Series, where Gene reprised
his role of Leroy Johnson from the movie.
Gene was often late to set, would miss rehearsals
and sometimes didn't show up at all causing lots of problems for filming.
Debbie Allen protected Gene and always had Michael Delorenzo ready to replace
Gene in the dance numbers. Producers suspended Gene a couple of times from the
show but his charming nature meant people struggled to stay mad at him. Michael
Delorenzo also took over some of Gene's storylines in Season 3 when Gene was
completely absent from filming.
During that season his home in New York was
deliberately set on fire and then his Mother was arrested for selling drugs.
Gene missed the Press Conference in June 1983 to announce that Fame was going
into production for a 3rd season in syndication. At the trial in 1984 Gene's
mother and grandmother would be sentence to prison.
Many of Gene's issues stemmed from his own
misuse of alcohol and drugs, making him unreliable.
In 1985 Gene starred the The Weather Girls
video for their song "Well A Wiggy” often misreported that he was in their
big hit "It's Raining Men".
Despite being reported by an American Newspaper that Gene was fired from Fame in 1984 he remained with the show for all 6 seasons until Fame came to an end in 1987 appearing in 100.
Gene had a promising career
ahead of him and things started well with the role of Billy in the stage musical
"Carrie", which was choreographed by Debbie Allen. After a successful
run in the U.K. it transferred to Broadway but closed after 16 previews and 5 performances.
During the 90s/00s there were a few dancer
roles in film and TV with "Out of Sync", "Austin Powers in
Goldmember", "Eddie", "The Drew Carey show" and
"Linc's".
Gene spent much of his later years living
in Italy, making appearances on Italian TV, attempting to set up his own dance
school there and also revive his career with a tour but none of these ventures
succeeded. He would make club appearances in Milan performing and stripping
under his character name Leroy Johnson. He would also appear on Cruise ships.
Gene had always avoided talking to the
press about his sexuality. In 1996 it was announced in the press that he was
gay and had been diagnosed HIV positive.
In April 2003 the BBC reunited Gene with
other members of the Fame cast for a Reunion to look back at 20 years of the
show. This would be the last time Gene would be with his Fame Family.
In June 2003 Gene suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. On 14th November 2003 he died from complications from both the stroke and Aids.
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