Brock Peters(1927-2005)
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Born of African and West Indian ancestry on July 2, 1927 in New York
City, Brock Peters set his sights on a show business career early on,
at age ten. A product of NYC's famed Music and Arts High School, Peters
initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs as he worked his way
up from Harlem poverty. Landing a stage role in "Porgy and Bess" in
1949, he quit physical education studies at CCNY and went on tour with
the acclaimed musical. His film debut came in
Carmen Jones (1954), but he really
began to make a name for himself - having dropped his real name, George
Fisher, in 1953 - in such films as
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
and The L-Shaped Room (1962).
He received a Tony Award nomination for his starring stint in
Broadway's "Lost in the Stars" in 1973. He also appeared in
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
and
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991),
two sequels to the popular Star Trek films. Brock Peters died at age 78
of pancreatic cancer on August 23, 2005.
