The Klingsor Initiates

Alec started writing his own comic strips at the age of seven. He has been a performer since the second grade, where he played the part of Captain Hook in a musical version of "Peter Pan". During high school, Alec was in varsity chorus for two years, with various solo parts, and was chosen as All-County and All-State, as well as leader of the tenor section.

He portrayed Lieutenant Shrank in "West Side Story" and Tom Keeney in "Funny Girl" in two summer productions at the old Playhouse Theatre in Canandaigua, New York.

While majoring in broadcasting at Indiana University, Alec was in the chorus for the operas "Il Trovatore" and "Andre Chenier" performed by the Indiana University Opera Theatre, which also toured the state, giving performances in five cities. At the same time, he was a member of Indiana's School of Music choral group "The Singing Hoosiers". Alec also appeared in the chorus for a summer production of "Camelot", and in his senior year at Indiana, he won the annual award for Radio Broadcast Performance, appearing in many radio plays during his time at the university.

A recipient of the S.I. Newhouse Fellowship while at Syracuse University, he directed the 90-minute teleplay “Dylan”, based on the life of Dylan Thomas. To this day, it is still shown as a teaching tool in the Master’s Program at the Newhouse School. He also directed a Christmas choral special at WCNY-TV, which was re-broadcast at five PBS stations in New York State.

While in graduate school at Syracuse, Alec sang scenes from "La Boheme" and "Carmen" as part of an opera performance. He also hosted a weekly opera radio program on station WAER-FM during one summer.

He did local television production work as writer, producer, and director at General Electric Cablevision, in Biloxi, Mississippi, where he originated a series entitled "Encore!", which featured scenes from local theater productions. Then, Alec returned to upstate New York and worked as an on-air performer, writer, producer, and director at WXXI-TV in Rochester.

After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in screenwriting, he performed opera arias and popular songs in various local showcases, including the famous La Scala restaurant.

Alec also wrote for the tv show "Grizzly Adams", had a screenplay optioned twice, did some ghost writing, and developed a screenplay project for a co-producer of the film "The Neverending Story".

At the same time, he furnished the libretto for an original opera, "Cold Genius", based on the last days of the pop-cult figure Klaus Nomi, composed by Eberhard Schoener, which was recorded on Ariola Records, featuring operatic bass Kurt Moll. He also worked on parts of the libretto for another Schoener opera, "Palazzo dell' Amore", which starred tenor Andrea Bocelli and was recorded along with "Cold Genius", the two works appearing as the cd "Short Operas".

During this same period, Alec divided his time between Los Angeles and the Finger Lakes area. He began writing rock songs, and ultimately released a cd, "Glass onions - Original Songs, 60s Style", where he performed vocals to ten of his original tunes.

Producer Chris Nebe of Monarex Hollywood Production, read Alec's screenplay, "The Ushabti" and declared it was the best first 10 pages of a script he had ever seen.

While auditioning for Indiana University Opera Theater, Alec sang "Di Quella Pira" from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", and sustained the final High-C for so long, one of the faculty voice professors in the audience remarked to another, "He beat Caruso's record". The other professor phoned Alec the next day and enrolled him as his vocal pupil.

While Alec visited on the set of "The Fortune", director Mike Nichols sat on his lap to take a phone call.

After attending a practice session by the group, The Rippingtons, the next morning, Alec woke up with two rock songs in his head. He wrote them down in a couple of hours - lyrics, melody, and guitar chords. This set him on a 20-year run as songwriter and performer in a rock band he formed, "Glass onions".

Alec once appeared as a contestant on "Concentration" and won over $5000 in cash and prizes.

He and Patricia Larson have been in a committed relationship for many years.