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source: GQ cover image, my collection; Renauld White in 2008. Neilson Barnard - Getty
via People.com:
Renauld White, a trailblazing model and soap actor known for his work in Guiding Light, has died at the age of 80.
White's longtime friend and fashion designer Jeffrey Banks announced the news on social media and confirmed to Women's Wear Daily (WWD) that White died on Wednesday, June 26, while under hospice care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. A cause of death has not been revealed.
White's funeral will take place on July 12 at the Whigham Funeral Home in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, the establishment shared on its website.
As Banks noted in his tribute, White did indeed break barriers. In November 1979, he became the second Black model to appear on the cover of GQ — following Urs Althaus in November 1977, per WWD.
He started his career modeling in the 1960s and worked with the likes of Ralph Lauren, Bill Blass, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan over the years. According to WWD, he's said to have also modeled for Yves Saint Laurent, Armani, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Versace. His notable campaigns included Black Tie cologne, Macy’s, Vitalis and Arrow Shirts.
White said in a 2011 interview, per WWD, that he called on agency Wilhelmina Models to allow more people of color to have access to the modeling industry.
“I wanted to bring about change. I really confronted the establishment about why there were not more Black male images," he said. "At first, I thought I was going to get thrown in jail and beaten up because of my approach. But then they realized that they were wrong and that they were behind society and behind the times, and that they had to listen to me.”
As an actor, White took on the role of William Reynolds in Guiding Light, appearing on the daytime soap opera for two years in the 1980s, per Deadline — a role for which he took a modeling hiatus.
His other acting credits included 2017's Central Park and 2014's Gun Hill, per IMDB, with The Morning Call noting in 1987 that he also had a role in The Stepford Wives. more at People.com
