Calvin Lockhart
Calvin Lockhart | |
---|---|
![]() Lockhart, 1971 | |
Born | Bert McClossy Cooper[1] October 18, 1934 |
Died | March 29, 2007 Nassau, Bahamas | (aged 72)
Nationality | Bahamian–American |
Education | Cooper Union School of Engineering |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1960–2007 |
Known for | Rev. Deke O'Malley –Cotton Comes to Harlem Biggie Smalls –Let's Do It Again |
Spouse(s) | (?-?; divorced)[1] Thelma Walters
(m.1972;div.1978)Lynn Sloan
(m.1982;div.1987)Jennifer Miles (m.2006) |
Children | 2 |
Calvin Lockhart(bornBert McClossy Cooper;October 18, 1934 – March 29, 2007) was aBahamian–Americanstage and filmactor.[3]Lockhart was perhaps best known for his roles as Reverend Deke O'Malley in the 1970 filmCotton Comes to Harlemand Biggie Smalls in the 1975Warner Bros.filmLet's Do It Again.
Early life[edit]
Lockhart was bornBert McClossy Cooper,the youngest of eight children inNassau, Bahamas.[4]Lockhart's father was Eric Cooper (1912/1913–1976), a Bahamian tailor.[2]Lockhart moved toNew York City, New York,when he was 18. He spent one year at theCooper Union School of Engineering,then left to pursue an acting career. He drove a taxi and operated a carpentry business in the borough ofQueenswhile trying to establish a career as an actor.
Career[edit]
In 1960, Lockhart made his Broadway debut, playing a gang leader inThe Cool World(a dramatization ofWarren Miller'snovel of the same name), which closed after just two performances. Lockhart then traveled toItalyand formed his own theater company in which he both acted and directed, before moving toWest Germanyand thenEngland,where he landed various roles on British television and small roles in films such as 1968'sA Dandy in AspicandSalt and Pepper.
Lockhart's first notable screen role was inJoanna,a1968 filmabout an interracial romance, set inLondon.Joannawas directed byMichael Sarne,who subsequently cast Lockhart in the notoriousMyra Breckinridge.Lockhart's first lead role in a film was inHalls of Anger(1970), playing a former basketball star who becomes vice-principal of an inner-city high school to which 60 white students are being moved. An article inThe New York Timesthat year described Lockhart as having "matinee-idol looks" with "chiseled-out-of-marble features" and "skin the color of brown velvet". He also starred inCotton Comes to Harlem(1970, based on theChester Himesnovel of the same name) as the Reverend Deke O'Malley. In 1974, Lockhart became an actor-in-residence at theRoyal Shakespeare CompanyinStratford-upon-Avon,England. In the 1980s, he was a guest star for seven episodes in the prime-time soap operaDynasty,playingJonathan Lake.He is familiar to horror film fans after his performance as the millionaire big-game hunter inThe Beast Must Die(1974).
Later life[edit]
Lockhart headed a Los Angeles campaign called "Getting Off Drugs," an anti-drug effort to get teenagers off drugs in the late 1970s.[5]Lockhart returned to the Bahamas in the late 1990s and worked as a director on several productions of the Freeport Players Guild. Lockhart's last film role was inRain,a movie that was shot in the Bahamas and was released in 2007.
Death[edit]
Lockhart died on March 29, 2007, in a Nassau hospital from stroke-related complications, at the age of 72.
Personal life[edit]
Lockhart was married three times[1]and had two sons. In 1972, he married Jamaican model Thelma Walters;[2]they divorced in 1978. In August 1982, Lockhart married British businesswoman Lynn Sloan in the Bahamas;[1]they later divorced. Calvin met his third wife Jennifer Miles in 1979 which led to the birth of actor Julien Lockhart Miles in 1981. The couple officially married 25 years later in 2006. Julien walking his mother down the aisle. In addition to Julien, Lockhart has another son named Leslie Lockhart.[5]
Pop culture[edit]
Lockhart character's name in the 1975 filmLet's Do It Again,Biggie Smalls, was used by musical artist Christopher Wallace for his 1991 demo, and was still used by media and friends after a lawsuit forced Wallace to change it toThe Notorious B.I.G.
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1961 | Venere creola | Melchiorre | |
1963 | Cleopatra | Minor Role (uncredited) | |
1967 | Drums Along the Avon | Bus Driver | |
1968 | Dark of the Sun | President Mwamini Ubi | Released in the UK asThe Mercenaries |
1968 | A Dandy in Aspic | Brogue | |
1968 | Joanna | Gordon | |
1968 | Only When I Larf | Ali Lin | |
1968 | Salt and Pepper | Jones | |
1968 | Nobody Runs Forever | Jamaica | Also known asThe High Commissioner |
1970 | Leo the Last | Roscoe, The Pimp | |
1970 | Halls of Anger | Quincy Davis | |
1970 | Cotton Comes to Harlem | Deke "Reverend" O'Malley | |
1970 | Myra Breckinridge | Irving Amadeus | |
1972 | Melinda | Frankie J. Parker | |
1973 | Le Grabuge | Pablo | Also known asHung Up |
1973 | Contratto carnale | Ruma / Kofi | Also known asOnly Love Defies |
1974 | Every Nigger is a Star | Acted and directed | |
1974 | The Beast Must Die | Tom Newcliffe | |
1974 | Uptown Saturday Night | Silky Slim | |
1974 | Honeybaby, Honeybaby | Liv | |
1975 | Let's Do It Again | "Biggie" Smalls | |
1975 | The Marijuana Affair | ||
1977 | The Baron | Jason | |
1980 | The Baltimore Bullet | Snow White | |
1988 | Coming to America | Colonel Izzi | |
1990 | Wild at Heart | Reggie | |
1990 | Predator 2 | Willie "King Willie" | |
1992 | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | The Electrician | |
2008 | Rain | Samuel | |
2014 | Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces | The Electrician | Final film role; scenes filmed in 1992 |
Television[edit]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1965 | Family Christmas | ||
1966 | The Corridor People | Theobald Aboo | Episode: "Victim as Black" |
1966 | Talking to a Stranger | Leonard Ngana | 2 episodes |
1966 | The Power Game | Kofe Lokwe | 2 episodes |
1965-1967 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Mark | Episode: "Family Christmas" |
Leonard | Episode: "Magnolia Summer" | ||
Johnny | Episode: "Go Tell It on Table Mountain" | ||
1967 | Girl in a Black Bikini | Lee Anderson | 3 episodes |
1967 | Rainbow City | Youth Leader | Episode: "What Sort of a Boy?" |
1967 | Escape | Kingsley Cavanaugh | Episode: "Five Men for Freedom" |
1968 | The Wednesday Play | Bus Driver | Episode: "Drums Along the Avon" |
Damon Page | Episode: "Light Blue" | ||
1969 | Mogul | Zeke Nkosi | Episode: "You Want a Clockwork Nightingale" |
1969 | Plays of Today | Akanu | Episode: "Beyond the Sunrise" |
1970 | Confession | Man | Episode: "Neighbours" |
1972 | Play for Today | Jonathan | Episode: "The Beautiful Caribbean" |
1972 | Softly Softly: Task Force | Jake Johnson | Episode: "Set Us Alight" |
1974 | Get Christie Love! | Emperor | Episode: "Emperor of Death Street" |
1978 | Good Times | Raymond, Florida Evans' Gambler Cousin | |
1978 | Starsky & Hutch | Allen "Angel" Walter | Episode: "Cover Girl" |
1979 | Good Times | Cousin Raymond Brown | Episode: "Cousin Raymond" |
1985-1986 | Dynasty | Jonathan Lake | 7 episodes |
1989 | 1st & Ten | Moses Jackson's Agent | Episode: "Final Bow" |
References[edit]
- ^abcdef"Actor Calvin Lockhart Marries Businesswoman",JET Magazine,September 27, 1982.
- ^abc"Calvin Lockhart's Father Dies In Nassau, Bahamas",JET Magazine,December 9, 1976.
- ^Bergan, Ronald (April 23, 2007)."Film".Guardian.London.Retrieved2010-12-03.
- ^"Calvin Lockhart, 72, Blaxploitation Actor, Dies",The New York Times,April 10, 2007.
- ^ab"Calvin Lockhart Reveals How Angel Dust Nearly Destroyed His Son's Life",JET Magazine,August 30, 1979.
External links[edit]
- Calvin LockhartatIMDb
- McLellan, Dennis,"Calvin Lockhart, 72; Bahamian-born actor",The Los Angeles Times,April 7, 2007.
- "The Cocoa Lounge Remembers Calvin Lockhart".Biography. Cocoalounge
- Calvin Lockhart(Aveleyman)