January 14, 2010: Death of Duluth actor Charles Nolte

On this day in 2010, Duluth native Charles Nolte died in Minneapolis. According to biographer David Ouse, Nolte was born in Duluth in 1923 to a true pioneer family. His grandfather, Henry Nolte, came to Duluth in 1882 when he was transferred from St. Paul by the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. By 1884 he was buying land and eventually started his own very successful real estate business, Little & Nolte Co. Charles Nolte attended Washburn School until 1931, when his family relocated to Wayzata. Nolte attended the University of Minnesota, served in World War II, and graduated from Yale in 1946. he became involved in the theater in New York and performed in nine Broadway productions, including Tin Top Valley, Design for a Stained Glass Window, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and the title role in Billy Budd. His film roles include Warpaint (1953), Steel Cage (1954), Ten Seconds to Hell (1959), Under Ten Flags (1960), and Armored Command (1961). He also appeared in numerous television programs. In 1962, Nolte returned to Minnesota to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, where he stayed on as an assistant professor in the Theater Department. Nolte authored ten plays, including A Night at the Black Pig and A Summer Remembered, and wrote the libretti for two Dominick Argento operas, The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe (1976) and The Dream of Valentino (1994). In 1997, the University named the Nolte Experimental Theatre in his honor; he retired in 1998. Learn more about Nolte here.

Charles Nolte as Billy Budd. (Image: Public Domain)