BY TEQUILA MINSKY | Arnold Slater, 75, who was killed in a hit- and-run accident in Morningside Heights on Sept. 28, was a mystery to his neighbors, but not to his circle of friends. To them, Slater, an actor and playwright who lived at 171 Thompson St., was a man of many insights.
Years ago he acted in Off Broadway plays and, at the time of his death, he had many plays in development. Physically he moved slowly, but mentally he was very agile.
Michael Simon Hall, a theater artist and writer, producer/director and co-chairperson of the Playwrights’ Roundtable, met Slater seven years ago at the Playwrights Lab at the Neighborhood Playhouse on E. 54th St., where playwrights met to help each other in developing their work.
“He was a quiet man and a big enthusi- ast of foreign film,” Hall said of Slater. “He attended many cultural events, foreign films and talks on European history, culture and business at Columbia University, from which he graduated. He had a special affinity for the Upper West Side, where he had lived before moving Downtown, and hence he spent much time there, often dining with friends late into the evening.”
Hall was among Slater’s friends who iden- tified the body at the morgue a few days after he was killed. Hall said Slater has no immediate family in the area but has siblings in California.
Slater was drafted during the Vietnam War and posted in Germany and France, where he developed an affinity for French culture and became fluent in French. He later translated a French play into English for the 59E59 the- aters.
“Arnold had a unique, sophisticated, Brechtian sort of humor, which I savored on many occasions,” Hall added. “He had a quiet kindness. He will be very missed and not for- gotten.”
Mary Baldridge, who ran Playwrights Lab, expressed shock and sadness at his sudden death.
“Arnold was erudite, well-educated and an informed asset to the group,” she said. “This past spring, he was part of the last public pre- sentation of the Lab with a wonderfully witty one-act that was a real success.”
His friend Doug Gray said, “He was very interested in ideas, politics, human nature and had a great curiosity. He worked at D&B [Dun & Bradstreet] for years, then moved into working on economic development projects with my company for another 10-plus years.
“Arnold loved to travel, be it in Europe, Montreal or California, and was eager for the next experience. We’ll miss his spirit, knowl- edge, wit and dry humor and hope that he’s having a nice meal and engaging discussion while working on a new script. ‘Now cracks a noble heart. Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.’ ”
The evening he was killed, Slater was returning from dinner with his friend Vince Bagnall, with whom he met for dinner three times a week for the last few years. Bagnall said Slater loved the beach, and in the three weeks before his death, went to Brighton Beach every day in the afternoon, saying it reminded him of the French Riviera.
It was Bagnall who police called soon after Slater’s death, his being the last number called on the victim’s cell phone. Soon after- ward, Bagnall went to Slater’s apartment with a police officer and rescued the Villager’s cat, which was taken in by a friend.
(Days later, neighbors in the building spent hours on the phone trying to gain access to the apartment, not knowing or being informed by the 26th Precinct that the cat had already been rescued.)
Bagnall is following the police investigation of the hit-and-run. He believes that a witness got the car’s license number and that there might be useful footage from a security camera at Columbia, but police are not currently sharing anything about the investigation.
Slater’s friends from the Playwrights Lab held an informal memorial for him last week, and another memorial is planned next month.
