Calvin Lockhart

Calvin Lockhart (born Bert McClossy Cooper; October 18, 1934March 29, 2007) was a Bahamian–American stage and film actor. Lockhart was perhaps best known for his roles as Reverend Deke O'Malley in the 1970 film ''Cotton Comes to Harlem'' and Biggie Smalls in the 1975 Warner Bros. film '' Let's Do It Again''.

Early life

Lockhart was born Bert McClossy Cooper, the youngest of eight children in Nassau, Bahamas."Calvin Lockhart, 72, Blaxploitation Actor, Dies"
''The New York Times'', April 10, 2007. Lockhart's father was Eric Cooper (1912/1913–1976), a Bahamian tailor."Calvin Lockhart's Father Dies In Nassau, Bahamas"
''JET Magazine'', December 9, 1976. Lockhart moved to New York City, New York, when he was 18. He spent one year at the Cooper Union School of Engineering, then left to pursue an acting career. He drove a taxi and operated a carpentry business in the borough of Queens while trying to establish a career as an actor.

Career

In 1960, Lockhart made his Broadway debut, playing a gang leader in ''The Cool World'' (a dramatization of Warren Miller's novel of the same name), which closed after just two performances. Lockhart then traveled to Italy and formed his own theater company in which he both acted and directed, before moving to West Germany and then England, where he landed various roles on British television and small roles in films such as 1968's ''A Dandy in Aspic'' and ''Salt and Pepper''.

Lockhart's first notable screen role was in ''Joanna'', a 1968 film about an interracial romance, set in London. ''Joanna'' was directed by Michael Sarne, who subsequently cast Lockhart in the notorious ''Myra Breckinridge''. Lockhart's first lead role in a film was in ''Halls 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 in ''The New York Times'' that year described Lockhart as having "matinee-idol looks" with "chiseled-out-of-marble features" and "skin the color of brown velvet". He also starred in ''Cotton Comes to Harlem'' (1970, based on the Chester Himes novel of the same name) as the Reverend Deke O'Malley. In 1974, Lockhart became an actor-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. In the 1980s he was a guest star for seven episodes in the prime-time soap opera ''Dynasty'', playing Jonathan Lake. He is familiar to horror film fans after his performance as the millionaire big-game hunter in '' The Beast Must Die'' (1974).

Later years, death and legacy

Lockhart headed a Los Angeles campaign called "Getting Off Drugs," an anti-drug effort to get teenagers off drugs in the late-1970s."Calvin Lockhart Reveals How Angel Dust Nearly Destroyed His Son's Life"
''JET Magazine'', August 30, 1979. 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 in ''Rain'', a movie that was shot in the Bahamas and was released in 2007. Lockhart died on March 29, 2007, in a Nassau hospital from stroke-related complications, at the age of 72.

Personal life

Lockhart was married four times and had two sons. In 1972, he married Jamaican model Thelma Walters; they divorced in 1978. In August 1982, Lockhart married British businesswoman Lynn Sloan in the Bahamas;"Actor Calvin Lockhart Marries Businesswoman"
''JET Magazine'', September 27, 1982. they later divorced. Calvin met his fourth and final 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, with Julien walking his Mom down the aisle. In addition to Julien, Lockhart has another son named Leslie Lockhart.

Pop culture

Lockhart character's name in the 1975 film '' Let'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 to Notorious B.I.G.

Filmography

* 1961 ''Venere creola'' as Melchiorre
* 1963 ''Cleopatra'' as Minor Role (uncredited)
* 1965 ''Family Christmas'' (TV)
* 1966 ''Talking to a Stranger'' (TV Series) as Leonard
* 1967 ''Girl in a Black Bikini'' (TV Series) as Lee Anderson
* 1967 ''Drums Along the Avon'' as Bus Driver
* 1968 '' The Mercenaries'' as President Mwamini Ubi
* 1968 ''A Dandy in Aspic'' as Brogue
* 1968 ''Light Blue'' (The Wednesday Play) (TV Series) as Damon Page
* 1968 '' Only When I Larf'' as Ali Lin
* 1968 ''Salt and Pepper'' as Jones
* 1968 ''Nobody Runs Forever'' as "Jamaica"
* 1968 ''Joanna'' as Gordon
* 1970 ''Halls of Anger'' as Quincy Davis
* 1970 ''Leo the Last'' as Roscoe, The Pimp
* 1970 ''Cotton Comes to Harlem'' as Deke "Reverend" O'Malley
* 1970 ''Myra Breckinridge'' as Irving Amadeus
* 1972 ''Melinda'' as Frankie J. Parker
* 1973 ''Le Grabuge'' as Pablo
* 1973-1974 ''Every Nigger is a Star''
* 1974 ''Contratto carnale'' as Ruma / Kofi
* 1974 '' The Beast Must Die'' as Tom Newcliffe
* 1974 '' Uptown Saturday Night'' as "Silky Slim"
* 1974 '' Honeybaby, Honeybaby'' as "Liv"
* 1978 ''Good Times'' (TV Series) as Raymond, Florida Evans' Gambler Cousin
* 1975 '' Let's Do It Again'' as "Biggie" Smalls
* 1975 ''The Marijuana Affair''
* 1977 ''The Baron'' as Jason
* 1978 ''Starsky & Hutch'' (TV Series) as Allen "Angel" Walter
* 1980 ''The Baltimore Bullet'' as "Snow" White
* 1988 ''Coming to America'' as Colonel Izzi
* 1990 '' Wild at Heart'' as Reggie
* 1990 ''Predator 2'' as Willie "King Willie"
* 1992 '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' as The Electrician
* 2008 ''Rain'' as Samuel
* 2014 '' Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces'' as The Electrician (final film role; scenes filmed in 1992)

References

External links

*
*McLellan, Dennis
"Calvin Lockhart, 72; Bahamian-born actor"
''The Los Angeles Times'', April 7, 2007.

Biography. Cocoalounge.com
Calvin Lockhart
Aveleyman)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockhart, Calvin
American male film actors
American male stage actors
Bahamian male film actors
Bahamian emigrants to the United States
People from Nassau, Bahamas
1934 births
2007 deaths
20th-century American male actors