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Earl Cameron

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Actor

The Resume

    (August 8, 1917-July 3, 2020)
    Born in Pembroke, Bermuda
    Considered the first black film star in Great Britain
    Appeared in the films ‘Pool of London’ (1951), ‘Simba’ (1955), ‘Safari’ (1955), ‘The Heart Within’ (1957), ‘Sapphire’ (1959), ‘Tarzan the Magnificent’ (1960), ‘Tarzan’s Three Challenges’ (1963), ‘Guns at Batasi’ (1964), ‘Thunderball’ (1965), ‘Battle Beneath the Earth’ (1967), ‘Mohammad, Messenger of God’ (1976), ‘Revelation’ (2001), ‘The Interpreter’ (2005), ‘The Queen’ (2006), and ‘Inception’ (2010)
    Named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2009)

Why he might be annoying:

    He arrived in London as a merchant seaman and got involved with a young woman: ‘The ship left without me, and the girl walked out, too.’
    While auditioning for movies in the late 1940s, he shaved six years off his age, which he called ‘poetic license.’
    He suggested part of the reason for his 50s success was that there were fewer black actors and said he was not sure if he could have competed against the likes of David Oyelowo and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Why he might not be annoying:

    BFI Screen Online wrote that he ‘brought a breath of fresh air to the British film industry's stuffy depictions of race relations.’
    He said, ‘I never saw myself as a pioneer. It was only later, looking back, that it occurred to me that I was.’
    He noted about the struggles faced by black actors, ‘Unless it was specified that this was a part for a black actor, they would never consider a black actor for the part. And they would never consider changing a white part to a black part.’
    He is believed to be the first black actor to portray an astronaut with his appearance in the Doctor Who serial ‘The Tenth Planet’ (1966).
    In the late 1970s, he moved to the Solomon Islands, where he established a Baha’i center and ran an ice cream shop on the side.
    After the death of his first wife, Audrey (1994), he returned to the UK and resumed his acting career.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 141 Votes: 41.84% Annoying