Calvin Lockhart (born Bert McClossy Cooper; October 18, 1934 – March 29, 2007) was a Bahamian–American stage and film actor.[3] 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.

Calvin Lockhart
Lockhart, 1971
Born
Bert McClossy Cooper[1]

(1934-10-18)October 18, 1934
DiedMarch 29, 2007(2007-03-29) (aged 72)
Nassau, Bahamas
NationalityBahamian–American
EducationCooper Union School of Engineering
OccupationActor
Years active1960–2007
Known forRev. Deke O'Malley – Cotton Comes to Harlem
Biggie Smalls – Let's Do It Again
Spouse(s)(?-?; divorced)[1]
Thelma Walters
(m. 1972; div. 1978)
[2][1]
Lynn Sloan
(m. 1982; div. 1987)
[1]
Jennifer Miles
(m. 2006)
Children2

Early life

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Lockhart was born Bert McClossy Cooper, the youngest of eight children in Nassau, Bahamas.[4] Lockhart's father was Eric Cooper (1912/1913–1976), a Bahamian tailor.[2] 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

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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 life

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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 in Rain, a movie that was shot in the Bahamas and was released in 2007.

Death

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Lockhart died on March 29, 2007, in a Nassau hospital from stroke-related complications, at the age of 72.

Personal life

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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

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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 The Notorious B.I.G.

Filmography

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Film

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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 as The 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 as The 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 as Hung Up
1973 Contratto carnale Ruma / Kofi Also known as Only 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

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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

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Actor Calvin Lockhart Marries Businesswoman", JET Magazine, September 27, 1982.
  2. ^ a b c "Calvin Lockhart's Father Dies In Nassau, Bahamas", JET Magazine, December 9, 1976.
  3. ^ Bergan, Ronald (April 23, 2007). "Film". Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  4. ^ "Calvin Lockhart, 72, Blaxploitation Actor, Dies", The New York Times, April 10, 2007.
  5. ^ a b "Calvin Lockhart Reveals How Angel Dust Nearly Destroyed His Son's Life", JET Magazine, August 30, 1979.
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