- David Yost
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David Yost 
David Yost, 2004Born January 7, 1969
Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S.A.David Harold Yost (born January 7, 1969) is an American actor and producer known for his role of Billy Cranston on the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Power Rangers Zeo.[1]
Contents
Early life
Yost was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa and moved around throughout the United States, winning many gymnastics competitions nationally, most notably the state championships Iowa and Montana. In 1987, he graduated from Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA. In 1991, graduated from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa with a B.A. in communication and dramatic arts. He moved to California with hopes of becoming an actor and auditioned for a role in the Power Rangers series only three months after arriving. He won the part of Billy Cranston, the computer-literate Power Ranger.
Power Rangers
Yost starred in more than two hundred episodes of the show's first four seasons. He was the only Ranger to appear in every single episode of the original series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, playing the part of the Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston, with the power of the Triceratops, the Unicorn in season 2, and later the Wolf in season 3. Yost's most high-profile work was his appearance in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, which took in over thirty million dollars at the box office in 1995. The movie was in theaters between the second and third seasons of M.M.P.R. and served as a non-canonical alternate opening for the third season.
After Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ended and Power Rangers: Zeo began in the fourth season, Yost stayed as Billy Cranston, but Cranston's role within the show changed. Instead of his previous role as a Power Ranger, he became a technical advisor to the others. When asked about the change in a 2010 interview, Yost was evasive about how he'd personally felt about this but said he understood why the production team did it; he says Haim Saban was interested in Super Sentai''s cast turnover and believes this was part of it.[2]
Yost eventually left the show toward the end of the Power Rangers: Zeo season. While it was originally believed that he had left the series due to insufficient pay, Yost later revealed in an interview that he left the series because he could no longer handle co-worker harassment that targeted his sexual orientation. He was often called a "faggot" and the producers would ask the other actors questions about Yost's sexuality.[3][4] Scott Page-Pagter, a long time producer of the show, responded to these remarks saying that Yost did not leave the show for this reason and issued a statement, "[Yost] and two of the other actors were all getting a bonus on top of their salary. When the other two left the show, production wanted to stop giving him the bonus, and that’s ultimately what led to his departure from the show." Pagter denied the allegations of homophobia, saying, "I don’t know why he’s saying this, but he was the only one no one got along with...he was a pain in the ass."[5] The character's final episode, "Rangers of Two Worlds", employed footage from previous episodes as well as vocal work from a separate, uncredited actor, to conceal the fact that Yost was not present during the taping. A tribute to the Blue Ranger and Billy was seen in the closing credits of this last Billy episode.
Post-Power Rangers work
After Yost left Power Rangers, he tried to get rid of his homosexuality with "conversion therapy" for two years, but this failed. Eventually Yost had a nervous breakdown which resulted in his psychiatric hospitalization for five weeks. After Yost checked out, he moved to Mexico for a year and eventually accepted his sexuality.[4]
In 1996, Yost had a minor role in the movie Ladykiller as Josh White. In 2000, he portrayed a Playboy photographer in the made-for-television movie After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped. He was an associate producer for another made-for-television movie, The Mary Kay Letourneau Story, that same year. In 2001, he first tried his hand at producing, working on the series Alien Hunter and Temptation Island, but he had not acted in front of the camera in some four years, at least since 1997. He worked as the director of production for Sci-Fi Lab, headed by the Sci-Fi Channel. Yost was then the manager of licensing for Pioneer Entertainment, where he sold completed television shows and films to such networks as Showtime, Starz/Encore and Cartoon Network.
In 2002, Yost performed in a play called Fallen Guardian Angels at "the complex" located in Los Angeles for A.P.L.A. (A.I.D.S. Project Los Angeles). The play was about six actors dealing with HIV in various situations. The proceeds went to benefit The Children's Hospitals AIDS Center. The entire production raised over $25,000 and Yost himself raised $5,000 for the hospital and received good reviews from LA Weekly Theatre. In 2004, he worked as a field producer for a U.K. documentary series called You Are What You Eat.
David appeared at the Anime Festival Orlando in Florida in August 2010.[6]
Yost has participated in the NOH8 Campaign.[7]
Filmography
Film
- After Different Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped (2000) (TV) .... Playboy Photographer
- Ladykiller a.k.a. Scene of the Crime (1996/I) .... Josh White
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) .... Billy Cranston/The Blue Ranger
TV
- Power Rangers: Zeo (1996) TV Series .... Billy Cranston
- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (1993–1996) TV Series .... Billy Cranston/The Blue Ranger
Producer
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010) TV Series (segment producer)
- You Are What You Eat (2004) TV Series (field producer)
- Temptation Island (2001) TV Series (associate producer)
- Alien Hunter (2001) TV Series (producer)
- After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped (2000) (TV) (associate producer)
- The Mary Kay Letourneau Story (2000) (TV) (associate producer)
Miscellaneous crew
- Revisiting 'Fail-Safe' (2000) (V) (special thanks)
References
- ^ "Go Inside Breaking Bad". IGN. http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/959/959680p4.html. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
- ^ No Pink Spandex: David Yost Interview part 2
- ^ Brad Wete (2010-08-26). "Original Blue Power Ranger reveals that he was harassed on set for being gay - EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/08/26/original-power-ranger-harassed-gay/. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ a b "Interview with David Yost Part 3". No Pink Spandex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmlcuY8bOUk&feature=related. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "Morphin' Producer -- Blue Ranger Was 'Pain in the Ass'". TMZ. 2010-08-26. http://www.tmz.com/2010/08/27/mighty-morphin-power-rangers-blue-ranger-david-yost-gay-producer-scott-page-pagter-money/.
- ^ "Anime Festival Orlando". Anime Festival Orlando. August 2010. http://animefestivalorlando.com/.
- ^ [www.noh8campaign.com/photo-gallery/familiar-faces/photo/5580]
External links
Categories:- 1969 births
- Actors from Iowa
- American film actors
- American gymnasts
- American television actors
- Living people
- LGBT people from the United States
- Gay actors
- Graceland University alumni
- People from Pottawattamie County, Iowa
- Power Rangers
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