Calvin Lockhart (born Bert McClossy Cooper; October 18, 1934March 29, 2007) was a Bahamian 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 travelled to Italy and formed his own theatre 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 1966's Talking to a Stranger, where he played Judi Dench's character's husband, and 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 Anerican 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. In the 1980s, he was a guest star for seven episodes in the American 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), and for his small appearances in two films by David Lynch, Wild at Heart (1990) and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). Also in 1990, Lockhart made an appearance as the Jamaican drug lord King Willie in Predator 2.
Later life 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.
Death Lockhart died on March 29, 2007, in a Nassau hospital from stroke-related complications, at the age of 72.
Personal life Lockhart was married three 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 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.
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 The Notorious B.I.G.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1961Venere creolaMelchiorre1963CleopatraMinor Role (uncredited)1967Drums Along the AvonBus Driver1968Dark of the SunPresident Mwamini UbiReleased in the UK as The Mercenaries 1968A Dandy in AspicBrogue1968JoannaGordon1968Only When I LarfAli Lin1968Salt and PepperJones1968Nobody Runs ForeverJamaicaAlso known as The High Commissioner1970Leo the LastRoscoe, The Pimp1970Halls of AngerQuincy Davis1970Cotton Comes to HarlemDeke "Reverend" O'Malley1970Myra BreckinridgeIrving Amadeus1972MelindaFrankie J. Parker1973Le GrabugePabloAlso known as Hung Up1973Contratto carnaleRuma / KofiAlso known as Only Love Defies1974Every Nigger Is a StarActed and directed1974The Beast Must DieTom Newcliffe1974Uptown Saturday NightSilky Slim1974Honeybaby, HoneybabyLiv1975Let's Do It Again"Biggie" Smalls1975The Marijuana Affair1977The BaronJason1980The Baltimore BulletSnow White1988Coming to AmericaColonel Izzi1990Wild at HeartReggie1990Predator 2Willie "King Willie"1992Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with MeThe Electrician2008RainSamuel2014Twin Peaks: The Missing PiecesThe ElectricianFinal film role; scenes filmed in 1992
Television Year Title Role Notes1965Family Christmas1966The Corridor PeopleTheobald AbooEpisode: "Victim as Black"1966Talking to a StrangerLeonard Ngana2 episodes1966The Power GameKofe Lokwe2 episodes1965-1967Thirty-Minute TheatreMarkEpisode: "Family Christmas"LeonardEpisode: "Magnolia Summer"JohnnyEpisode: "Go Tell It on Table Mountain"1967Girl in a Black BikiniLee Anderson3 episodes1967Rainbow CityYouth LeaderEpisode: "What Sort of a Boy?"1967EscapeKingsley CavanaughEpisode: "Five Men for Freedom"1968The Wednesday PlayBus DriverEpisode: "Drums Along the Avon"Damon PageEpisode: "Light Blue"1969MogulZeke NkosiEpisode: "You Want a Clockwork Nightingale"1969Plays of TodayAkanuEpisode: "Beyond the Sunrise"1970ConfessionManEpisode: "Neighbours"1972Play for TodayJonathanEpisode: "The Beautiful Caribbean"1972Softly Softly: Task ForceJake JohnsonEpisode: "Set Us Alight"1974Get Christie Love!EmperorEpisode: "Emperor of Death Street"1978Good TimesRaymond, Florida Evans' Gambler Cousin1978Starsky & HutchAllen "Angel" WalterEpisode: "Cover Girl"1979Good TimesCousin Raymond BrownEpisode: "Cousin Raymond"1985-1986DynastyJonathan Lake7 episodes19891st & TenMoses Jackson's AgentEpisode: "Final Bow"
References
External links
McLellan, Dennis, "Calvin Lockhart, 72; Bahamian-born actor", The Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2007. "The Cocoa Lounge Remembers Calvin Lockhart". Biography. Cocoalounge.com Calvin Lockhart (Aveleyman)