Person
Norman Beaton
Georgetown, Guyana
Norman Beaton was a popular and much loved Guyanese born British actor. He arrived in the UK in 1960 and worked as a calypso singer and musician and a teacher - being the first bl…
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Norman Beaton was a popular and much loved Guyanese born British actor. He arrived in the UK in 1960 and worked as a calypso singer and musician and a teacher - being the first black teacher employed by the education authority in Liverpool. His heart set on a career in showbusiness, he moved to Bristol and became a presenter on the regional news magazine Points West, before a two week prison sentence curtailed his presenting career. He subsequently found work in London's West End, appearing in The Tempest as Ariel, a role he subsequently cited as the most important in his career. He helped set up the Black Theatre in Brixton in the mid 70s and broke into television with the first black British sitcom, The Fosters in 1976, playing Lenny Henry's father. A star turn in the movie Black Joy followed a year later, as did the principal role in the fledgling black soap Empire Road for the BBC. But it is perhaps his performance as Desmond Ambrose, the crotchety Peckham barber in Channel 4's hit sitcom Desmond's that Beaton will forever be remembered for. The series ran from 1988 until his ill health curtailed the show in 1994. He retired to Georgetown, the place of his birth, but collapsed and died of a heart attack at the airport on arrival, on 13th December 1994. He was 60 years old.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
1994
Busker's Odyssey
Movie Mr. Robertson
-
1994
Little Napoleons
TV show N.K. Edwards
-
1992
Black and White in Colour
Movie Self
-
1990
When Love Dies
Movie Pastor
-
1989
The Mighty Quinn
Movie Governor Chalk
-
1989
Desmond's
TV show Desmond Ambrose
-
1989
Endgame
Movie Hamm
-
1988
Airbase
Movie Voice
-
1988
The Play on One
TV show
-
1987
Dispatches
TV show Robert Mugabe
-
1987
Big George Is Dead
Movie Boogie
-
1987
Rockliffe's Babies
TV show Mal
-
1987
Playing Away
Movie Willie Boy
-
1987
Mark of the Hand
Movie Narrator
-
1986
Dead Head
TV show Caractacus
-
1985
Rachel and the Roarettes
Movie Priest
More credits
-
1984
Nice
Movie
-
1984
The Cosby Show
TV show Carleton
-
1984
Real Life
Movie Leon McDonald
-
1983
Eureka
Movie Byron Judson
-
1982
Easy Money
Movie Trevor
-
1980
Growing Pains
Movie Ngenko
-
1980
Hammer House of Horror
TV show Mr. Ngenko
-
1979
Minder
TV show Billy
-
1979
The Last Window Cleaner
Movie Leroy
-
1978
Empire Road
TV show
-
1977
Black Christmas
Movie Bertie
-
1977
Black Joy
Movie Dave King
-
1976
Pressure
Movie Preacher
-
1976
The Fosters
TV show Samuel Foster
-
1975
In Sickness and in Health
Movie Mr Byron
-
1975
A Man in the Zoo
Movie Joe Tennison
-
1974
Graceless Go I
Movie Hospital Doctor
-
1974
Playhouse
TV show Trevor All
-
1972
The Protectors
TV show Chauffeur
-
1972
Sykes
TV show Richard Kydd
-
1972
Up the Chastity Belt
Movie Blacksmith
