Poet Peter Orlovsky Dies

Peter Orlovsky, a poet and the longtime partner of the late Allen Ginsberg, died Saturday in Vermont of lung cancer. He was 76 years old.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Orlovsky met Ginsberg in San Francisco in 1954, before Ginsberg wrote his seminal poem, ‘Howl.’ Published in 1956, ‘Howl’ was the subject of a 1957 obscenity trial that became a landmark free-expression case. Afterward, Ginsberg and Orlovsky moved to Paris, where they stayed with Gregory Corso, William Burroughs and others in a boarding house that would become known as the Beat Hotel.”

Orlovsky and Ginsberg’s relationship lasted more than 30 years, although they spent some time apart. Ginsberg died in 1997. Their relationship will be chronicled in the upcoming film, Howl, starring James Franco as Ginsberg and Aaron Tveit as Orlovsky.