Post by Diamond Girl on Apr 8, 2007 9:56:31 GMT -5
Bahamian-Born Actor Calvin Lockhart Dies
By Associated Press
Sat Apr 7, 9:21 PM
NASSAU, Bahamas - Calvin Lockhart, a Bahamian-born actor who won acclaim for his roles as underworld figures in 1970s "blaxploitation" films, has died. He was 72.
Lockhart, who buried in Nassau on Saturday, died March 29 of complications from a stroke, his wife Jennifer Miles-Lockhart said.
Born the youngest of eight children in 1934, Lockhart moved to New York as a teenager to study engineering but quickly found his calling in the theater.
His first big screen role was in the 1967 film "Joanna," about an interracial romance in London. He was later praised for his portrayal of an unscrupulous preacher in the 1970 Ossie Davis-directed "Cotton Comes to Harlem."
Lockhart also played a disc jockey-turned-sleuth in the 1972 blaxploitation film "Melinda," and the gangster character Biggie Smalls in 1975's "Let's Do It Again."
Lockhart also appeared on the TV series "Dynasty" and had roles in Hollywood hits such as 1988's "Coming to America," starring Eddie Murphy.
"Although his acting career was of relatively short duration, Calvin's cinematic charisma and talents won him high praise from critics and audiences alike all around the world," Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie told the Nassau Guardian newspaper.
Lockhart is survived by his wife and two sons.
Yahoo!
***
OBITUARIES
Calvin Lockhart, 72; Bahamian-born actor
By Dennis McLellan
Times Staff Writer
April 7, 2007
Calvin Lockhart, a strikingly handsome, Bahamian-born actor whose on-screen heyday in the 1970s included prominent roles in "Cotton Comes to Harlem" and "Uptown Saturday Night," has died. He was 72.
Lockhart died of complications of a stroke March 29 at a hospital in Nassau, said his wife, Jennifer Miles-Lockhart.
Described by a New York Times writer in 1970 as having "matinee idol looks," with "chiseled-out-of-marble features" and "skin the color of brown velvet," Lockhart had his first starring film role that year in "Halls of Anger," a racially explosive drama in which he played an ex-basketball star and English teacher who becomes vice principal of an inner-city high school where 60 white students are being bused in.
The same year, he played the smooth-talking preacher-con artist in "Cotton Comes to Harlem."
Lockhart's first notable screen role had been in "Joanna," the London-set 1968 film starring Genevieve Waite about an interracial romance, in which Lockhart played Waite's nightclub-operator boyfriend.
It was a role that "marked him as a very gifted young man," said Sidney Poitier, who directed Lockhart in the 1970s comedies "Uptown Saturday Night" and "Let's Do It Again," both of which starred Poitier and Bill Cosby. Lockhart played underworld characters in both films.
"Calvin had wonderful range as an actor," Poitier told The Times this week. "He really had such enormous promise. I don't know why he was not more utilized, because he was so good. As a matter of fact, he had movie-star qualities. He was a very handsome man, his impact on the screen was striking and his work was highly praised."
Among Lockhart's other film credits in the 1970s were leading roles in "Melinda," "The Beast Must Die," "Honeybaby, Honeybaby" and "The Baron."
In 1974, he became an actor-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where he appeared in "Julius Caesar" and other productions.
Lockhart, who appeared in the short-lived Broadway musical "Reggae" in 1980, played a recurring character on TV's "Dynasty" in the mid-'80s and later had small roles in the films "Coming to America," "Wild at Heart" and "Predator 2."
Born Bert Cooper in Nassau on Oct. 18, 1934, he moved to New York at age 18. After a year at the Cooper Union School of Engineering, he dropped out to pursue a career in acting, during which he supported himself by running a carpentry business in Queens and driving a taxi.
After making his Broadway debut in 1960 playing a gang leader in "The Cool World," which ran for only two performances, Lockhart moved to Italy, where he formed his own theater company, for which he acted and directed. He later moved to Germany and then to England, where he acted frequently on British television and played small roles in several films in the late 1960s, including "A Dandy in Aspic" and "Salt and Pepper."
About nine years ago, Lockhart moved back to the Bahamas, where he worked as a director on several productions of the Freeport Players Guild. As an actor, he recently finished filming "Rain," an unreleased movie shot in the Bahamas.
Lockhart's family plans to establish a scholarship fund in his name for Bahamian students who are interested in acting and filmmaking.
In addition to Jennifer, his fourth wife, Lockhart is survived by two sons, Michael Cooper and Julien Lockhart Miles; a daughter, Shari; his mother, Minerva Cooper; three brothers, Carney, Eric and Phillip Cooper; and two sisters, Delores Bain and Melba Styles.
dennis.mclellan@latimes.com
LA Times
By Associated Press
Sat Apr 7, 9:21 PM
NASSAU, Bahamas - Calvin Lockhart, a Bahamian-born actor who won acclaim for his roles as underworld figures in 1970s "blaxploitation" films, has died. He was 72.
Lockhart, who buried in Nassau on Saturday, died March 29 of complications from a stroke, his wife Jennifer Miles-Lockhart said.
Born the youngest of eight children in 1934, Lockhart moved to New York as a teenager to study engineering but quickly found his calling in the theater.
His first big screen role was in the 1967 film "Joanna," about an interracial romance in London. He was later praised for his portrayal of an unscrupulous preacher in the 1970 Ossie Davis-directed "Cotton Comes to Harlem."
Lockhart also played a disc jockey-turned-sleuth in the 1972 blaxploitation film "Melinda," and the gangster character Biggie Smalls in 1975's "Let's Do It Again."
Lockhart also appeared on the TV series "Dynasty" and had roles in Hollywood hits such as 1988's "Coming to America," starring Eddie Murphy.
"Although his acting career was of relatively short duration, Calvin's cinematic charisma and talents won him high praise from critics and audiences alike all around the world," Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie told the Nassau Guardian newspaper.
Lockhart is survived by his wife and two sons.
Yahoo!
***
OBITUARIES
Calvin Lockhart, 72; Bahamian-born actor
By Dennis McLellan
Times Staff Writer
April 7, 2007
Calvin Lockhart, a strikingly handsome, Bahamian-born actor whose on-screen heyday in the 1970s included prominent roles in "Cotton Comes to Harlem" and "Uptown Saturday Night," has died. He was 72.
Lockhart died of complications of a stroke March 29 at a hospital in Nassau, said his wife, Jennifer Miles-Lockhart.
Described by a New York Times writer in 1970 as having "matinee idol looks," with "chiseled-out-of-marble features" and "skin the color of brown velvet," Lockhart had his first starring film role that year in "Halls of Anger," a racially explosive drama in which he played an ex-basketball star and English teacher who becomes vice principal of an inner-city high school where 60 white students are being bused in.
The same year, he played the smooth-talking preacher-con artist in "Cotton Comes to Harlem."
Lockhart's first notable screen role had been in "Joanna," the London-set 1968 film starring Genevieve Waite about an interracial romance, in which Lockhart played Waite's nightclub-operator boyfriend.
It was a role that "marked him as a very gifted young man," said Sidney Poitier, who directed Lockhart in the 1970s comedies "Uptown Saturday Night" and "Let's Do It Again," both of which starred Poitier and Bill Cosby. Lockhart played underworld characters in both films.
"Calvin had wonderful range as an actor," Poitier told The Times this week. "He really had such enormous promise. I don't know why he was not more utilized, because he was so good. As a matter of fact, he had movie-star qualities. He was a very handsome man, his impact on the screen was striking and his work was highly praised."
Among Lockhart's other film credits in the 1970s were leading roles in "Melinda," "The Beast Must Die," "Honeybaby, Honeybaby" and "The Baron."
In 1974, he became an actor-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where he appeared in "Julius Caesar" and other productions.
Lockhart, who appeared in the short-lived Broadway musical "Reggae" in 1980, played a recurring character on TV's "Dynasty" in the mid-'80s and later had small roles in the films "Coming to America," "Wild at Heart" and "Predator 2."
Born Bert Cooper in Nassau on Oct. 18, 1934, he moved to New York at age 18. After a year at the Cooper Union School of Engineering, he dropped out to pursue a career in acting, during which he supported himself by running a carpentry business in Queens and driving a taxi.
After making his Broadway debut in 1960 playing a gang leader in "The Cool World," which ran for only two performances, Lockhart moved to Italy, where he formed his own theater company, for which he acted and directed. He later moved to Germany and then to England, where he acted frequently on British television and played small roles in several films in the late 1960s, including "A Dandy in Aspic" and "Salt and Pepper."
About nine years ago, Lockhart moved back to the Bahamas, where he worked as a director on several productions of the Freeport Players Guild. As an actor, he recently finished filming "Rain," an unreleased movie shot in the Bahamas.
Lockhart's family plans to establish a scholarship fund in his name for Bahamian students who are interested in acting and filmmaking.
In addition to Jennifer, his fourth wife, Lockhart is survived by two sons, Michael Cooper and Julien Lockhart Miles; a daughter, Shari; his mother, Minerva Cooper; three brothers, Carney, Eric and Phillip Cooper; and two sisters, Delores Bain and Melba Styles.
dennis.mclellan@latimes.com
LA Times
