James Coco

James Coco was an American character actor known for Only When I Laugh (1981, Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Murder by Death (1976), and extensive New York stage work. He was gay in an era when disclosure was professionally and socially impossible; his identity was known among theater colleagues but was not publicly discussed during his lifetime. He died of heart failure in 1987, having never formally come out. Coco is remembered as one of the warmly beloved character actors of 1970s Hollywood, and his story reflects the era's constraints on LGBTQ+ performers.