Believed to be Britain’s first black movie star to have a successful career, Earl Cameron passed away on Friday at the age of 102.
Cameron died with his wife and other family members at his side, The Guardian writes .
The actor was born in Bermuda in 1917 and moved to Britain in 1939. Two years later he had a role in a play, after which other theater roles followed. Cameron had his first major role in a post-World War II movie in Pool of London (1951).
In that movie, he played Johnny, a young sailor who deals with racism and has a relationship with a white woman. “It was the first British film to feature such a mixed relationship,” Cameron said in an interview in 2017 . “But it felt very natural to me. It felt like real life.”
“Black actors had a hard time”
The actor struggled in the “white” film industry, he said in the same interview. A leading role was not included, unless a script specified that a role was specifically intended for a black person. “I got mainly small roles, which was very frustrating. Not only for me, but also for other black actors. It was difficult for us to be able to play a significant role.”
In 1964 Cameron had a supporting role in James Bond movie Thunderball and in 1964 he was seen in Guns of Batasi . He also had supporting roles in The Queen and Inception and appeared in television series such as The Dark Man, a drama about an immigrant taxi driver.
Cameron was awarded a British knighthood in 2009 (see photo). He married twice. His first wife Audrey died in 1994. The same year he married Barbara.
We are sorry to hear that Earl Cameron, who played Pinder in Thunderball, has passed away at the age of 102. Our thoughts are with his family at this time. pic.twitter.com/vOQrWQQAf1
— James Bond (@007) July 4, 2020
