Nathan Purdee (born August 6, 1950 in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

) is an American actor, best known for his roles in popular

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s. __TOC__

Personal life

Purdee's father was an officer in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, and the family moved around many times. After spending formative years in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, and

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, he graduated from high school in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He now lives in Easton, Pennsylvania

Career

Purdee first rose to prominence as mobster-turned-private investigator

Nathan Hastings Nathan Hastings is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. The role was originated in 1984 by Nathan Purdee, who portrayed the character until 1992. The character was subsequently portrayed by Randy Brooks (1 ...

on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

soap opera ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', a role he portrayed from 1984 to 1992. His involvement on ''Y&R'' (he was one of only two black cast members on the show in the late 1980s) paved the way for more

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

additions to the cast. He left ''Y&R'' in December 1991 and moved to New York in January 1992 to play the role of District Attorney Hank Gannon on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

soap opera ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'', a role he would portray until 2003. Between ''Y&R'' and ''OLTL'', he portrayed Youngblood "Superfly" Priest in ''

The Return of Superfly ''The Return of Superfly'' is a 1990 American crime drama film directed by Sig Shore. The film is a sequel to the 1973 film ''Super Fly T.N.T.''. It stars Nathan Purdee as Youngblood Priest (replacing Ron O'Neal from the two previous films) and Ma ...

'', the third and final installment in the classic '' Super Fly'' trilogy.Hank Gannon profile - Soaps.com
Retrieved on February 17, 2009. On February 11, 2009 it was announced he would be returning to ''One Life to Live'' in April 2009. In 2017, it was announced that Purdee would return to the screen in ''

Killian & the Comeback Kids ''Killian & the Comeback Kids'' is a 2020 American folk-rock musical film written and directed by Taylor A. Purdee. The film stars Purdee, John Donchak, Nathan Purdee, and Kassie DePaiva along with an ensemble cast that features Maddi Jane and ...

'' with ''One Life to Live'' co-star

Kassie DePaiva Katherine Virginia "Kassie" DePaiva (née Wesley; born March 21, 1961) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Bobby Joe in the horror film '' Evil Dead II'' (1987) and her work in American daytime soap operas. She ...

. The film would be written and directed by Purdee's son

Taylor A. Purdee Taylor Armstrong Purdee is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and songwriter. He is best known for creating the musical film ''Killian & the Comeback Kids'', as well as for his work preserving the documentary films of Academy Award wi ...

References

1950 births Living people Male actors from Tampa, Florida American male television actors American male soap opera actors African-American male actors 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{US-tv-actor-1950s-stub