Meet 'Gilded Age's' Stone Cold Fox Claybourne Elder

Recently actor Claybourne Elder joined the ranks of Mark Wahlberg in appearing in Times Square semi-dressed, which is also the way he was seen on the third episode of HBO Max's "The Gilded Age."

His Times Square appearance is a billboard for Broadway's gender-bending "Company," in which he plays an air steward who has an after-sex duet with the revival's female Bobby (Katrina Lenk). On "The Gilded Age" the out actor plays John Adams, the great-grandson of President John Quincy Adams, seen in bed with Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson), the closeted scion of an old money clan. (It gets complicated in Julian Fellowesverse, and does the naming van Rhijn 'Oscar' hint of a scandal to come?) As of Episode Three, Rhijn is plotting a way to marry a wealthy heiress and carry on with Adams, who, as played by Elder, looks like he found 1880s Crunch Fitness and indulged in some 21st century personal grooming. This makes him, as Grazia Magazine calls him a "stone-cold fox ."

He also stripped down for a sexy video to promote "Company" that he posted on social media.

When he appeared recently on Channel 4 New York's "New York Live," he explained he couldn't divulge much about "The Gilded Age," which had yet to premiere. "I can't tell you a lot," he told host Sara Gore. "I play John Adams in the show, and I'm from a wealthy family. So, I'm on that side of the show."

His reference is the old guard of New York aristocracy threatened by the new wave of tycoons, including the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and the imagined George Russell (Morgan Spector), an embodiment of the period's robber baron.

He added that, by the end of the first episode, "You'll know a lot about me, I'll just say, but... what a wonderful show to be a part of it. There's so many incredible New York theater actors involved, but it feels like one after the next."

The cast features a line-up of Tony winners and nominees: Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Denée Benton, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Douglas Sills, Debra Monk, Michael Cerveris, Katie Finneran, Kelli O'Hara, and Donna Murphy.

Elder also was in the news recently for Paying in Forward. He posted on Instagram that he was giving two tickets to "Company" this past January 1 under the condition that whoever would enter "someone who could maybe not afford to come to the show otherwise." He also described how, when he was 18 and came to New York, a stranger gave him $200 while he was in standing room of "Putnam County Spelling Bee," with the stipulation he spend the money on the revival of "Sweeney Todd," starring Patti LuPone.

The response stunned him, reports the Washington Post. "Not only did donations from fans who wanted to cover the cost of additional free tickets start pouring in, but Elder's fellow actor in 'The Gilded Age,' Douglas Sills, called him and said he is friends with the man in the photo."

"I was dumbfounded," Elder told the Post. "He learned the man was Mark Howell, who owns an advertising agency and lives in Los Angeles. He's also a huge theater fan. That same day, Sills coordinated a surprise FaceTime call with Elder and Howell. Within minutes, they were both in tears."

Talking about his billboard appearance to Channel 4, Elder said he took a pic and sent it to his mom. "And she was 'proud question mark'," he joked to Gore.

"She was like, 'Well, honey, you made it. I've never thought that's how it would be.' But she was happy. No, that's what you dream of when you're a little kid. You know, I grew up in Utah. I never imagined..."

He also discussed co-star Patti LuPone, with whom he shares a birthday. "And of course, I knew that. But you know, on the first day of rehearsal, we were all chatting and things and birthdays came up and she said, 'Oh, my birthday is April 21.' And I pretended I didn't know."

He told her it was also his birthday. "And she looked at me and she said, 'That means we're soulmates.' That's, that's something you don't forget."

They have since become good friends. "We both cook, we send each other recipes. I brought her soup the other day." And he explained how she has, like Alan Cumming, turned her dressing room into an impromptu bar. "She has a dressing room that she has fashioned, just for the cast, as a bar. She's a big neon sign. She welcomes us to go drink there even when she's not there."

As for being back on Broadway, Elder says: "It's so exciting because the audiences are so happy to be there. So I feel the electricity in the room. Every night is so fantastic." Nor does the fact they wear masks an issue. "There was some worry about what it would be like to perform for a roomful of people in masks, and you feel their energy. You hear their laughter. It's so thrilling."

When "Company" premiered some 50 years ago, Elder's part was played by actress Susan Browning. "I was dumbfounded," Elder said.
Here, renamed Andy, he was described in Variety as "the flight attendant with a hot body and a head in the clouds embodied here as a textbook himbo (Claybourne Elder, daft and deadpan)."

"Well, it's hard for me to imagine that there was a version of the show where Bobby was a man," Elder explained. He also marveled at the musical's relevancy. "It is just that the ideas are so present. They're so today. Especially when it's about a woman. And for me, it's a thrill because they don't write a lot of men like my character. It was a woman in the original production; now it's played by me. It's so fun. Yes, he's a delightful person."

Claybourne married director Eric Rosen in July 2012 in New York State. In 2017 they had a son through surrogacy.