Stanley Grover; Veteran Singer and Actor

Stanley Grover, a veteran singer and actor seen on television, in films and on stages from Broadway to Hollywood and best known for his “baritenor” voice, has died. He was 71.

Grover died Sunday at UCLA Medical Center of acute leukemia, his family said.

As a youth, Grover was often cast as the romantic leading man in musicals and other productions. With age, he took on serious character roles.

His Broadway credits included “Candide,” “Time Remembered” and “Company.” He toured in such musicals as “Finian’s Rainbow,” “I Do I Do,” “Kismet” and “South Pacific,” in which he played Lt. Cable.

In recent years, Grover appeared on stage in a concert-style version of “Company” at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach, in “The Petrified Forest” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and in “You Never Can Tell” at Room for Theatre.

He also appeared in a recurring role on television’s “L.A. Law” as a somber judge who presided over many trials.

Grover earned strong reviews for his work in television movies. Among the more recent were 1994’s “Roswell,” in which he played a veteran; “Confessions: Two Faces of Evil,” also in 1994, in which he played Judge Jerald J. Levee; 1993’s “A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion,” in which he played Sheriff Gilmore; and 1992’s “Mrs. Cage,” in which he played Anne Bancroft’s lawyer husband.

He had regular roles in a couple of 1970s television series, as the hero’s father in “Married: The First Year” and as Mark Mercer in “Somerset.” He also appeared in the 1991 series “Sisters” as Dr. Reed. Earlier, he was a singer in “That Was the Week That Was.”

On the big screen, Grover was last seen as Gen. Price in “Executive Decision” in 1996. He previously appeared in “Old Gringo,” “The Falcon and the Snowman,” “Fandango,” “Ghostbusters,” “The Onion Field,” “North Dallas Forty,” “Being There” and “Network.”

But it was his singing voice that critics liked best. When a tribute to director Josh Logan was staged in New York in 1988, a critic wrote: “There were no moments in the musical theater this year as thrilling as Stanley Grover . . . stepping away from the mike to sing ‘Younger Than Springtime’ with no amplification other than the power of his emotions and the voice God gave him.”

Born Stanley Grover Nienstedt in Woodstock, Ill., he first performed publicly at a concert given by his 1944 high school graduating class. He served in the Navy during World War II and then earned a degree in music from the University of Missouri.

Grover is survived by his daughter, Cindy Grover Nartatez; two sons, Steven and Jamie; his companion, Ronnie Claire Edwards; a brother; two sisters and two grandchildren.

Memorial donations can be made to the Actors Fund of America.