Brock Peters

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Brock Peters (* 2 July 1927 as George Brock Fisher in New York ; † 23. August 2005 in Los Angeles ) was an American actor and singer .

Life

Born to African-American and Caribbean parents, Sonny and Alma A. Fisher, he began performing publicly at the age of ten. As a 15-year-old Peters was on stage in the musical Porgy and Bess on Broadway . Even as a graduate of Music and Arts High School, Peters initially had to take on remote jobs (as a park ranger , YMCA supervisor, as a cleaner in a hospital and as a dock worker) instead of being able to leave the borders of Harlem behind through better engagements .

A first step towards his actual professional determination was the casting in the aforementioned musical in 1949, in which he also played the title role, as well as in South Pacific . He made his film debut in the film adaptation of the musical Carmen Jones (1954), but he only succeeded with his role in To Kill a Mockingbird ( To Kill a Mockingbird ) (1962) the change in the character roles , where he alongside Gregory Peck the Tom Robinson played wrongly accused of rape . In 1964 he stood for the director Sidney Lumet in the film drama Der Pfandleiher (The Pawnbroker) on the side of Rod Steiger in front of the camera.

In addition to his vocal performances in musicals, he immortalized himself as a background voice on the music titles Banana Boat (Day-O) and Mama Look a Booboo by his friend Harry Belafonte . Peters completed his most important roles in the 1950s and 1960s. In the musical adaptation of Porgy and Bess (1959), Peters played and sang the role of the violent Crown so impressively that Sidney Poitier received an equal counterpart, even if Poitier's voice was doubled by Robert McFerrin .

In the later years of his career Brock Peters could no longer build on his former successes, as there were rarely good roles for blacks and he was also in competition with Poitier and Belafonte, for whom it was just as difficult in their later years good roles to come. In 1980, Peters was heard as Darth Vader in the radio play version of Star Wars . In the early 1990s, Peters starred in a number of B-movies and disaster films . He had one of his last roles as the voice of General Mi'Qogh in the computer game "Star Trek: Starfleet Command III" and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the father of Cpt. Benjamin Sisko . Peters had previously starred as Admiral Cartwright in two Star Trek movies . Peters, however, was due to his distinctive voice as a speaker in animation - and animated films always sought after and also appeared as a theater producer in appearance.

Peters has received two Lifetime Achievement Awards, among others, from the National Film Society in 1976 and from the Screen Actors Guild in 1990 . Peters received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in "Lost in the Stars" on Broadway . On June 16, 2003, he gave the funeral oration for his former co-actor and friend Gregory Peck, and on this occasion he went public for the last time.

He had a daughter with his wife DiDi (actually Dolores Daniels), a television producer with whom he was married from 1961 until her death in 1988. Most recently he lived with Marilyn Darby for many years .

Peters died on 23 August 2005 at the age of 78 years to cancer .

Filmography (selection)

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