Black American character actor. A graduate of Ithaca College and Dillard College, he studied voice culture and performing arts. As a surgical technician for the U.S. Army in World War II, he was decorated for service in the South Pacific. He contracted tuberculosis during the war and was unable to continue plans to become an opera singer. He studied theatre at San Jose State College and began appearing in plays in and around San Francisco. He relocated to Hollywood in the early 1970s and spent the next three decades appearing in commercials, television programs and films. He died in August, 2002 at the age of 83. Show less «