RIP Did you know ..... Gone Too Soon!

Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939–March 7, 2004) was an Academy Award-nominated television and film actor. Winfield was openly gay in his private life, but remained discreet about it in the public eye. He was best known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film "Sounder," and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the television miniseries "King." Winfield also narrated the show "City Confidential," on the A&E channel. Winfield died of a heart attack in 2004; he was 64. His long-time partner of 30 years, architect Charles Gillan Jr., preceded him in death in 2002. He finally won an Emmy in 1995 for a guest appearance on "Picket Fences." He played a federal judge whose rulings on busing inner-city children are challenged by a local resident.

Despite acclaim, Winfield was often relegated to supporting roles, including playing Jim in a 1974 remake of "Huckleberry Finn."
Sidney Poitier hired Winfield for his first movie role in "The Lost Man" in 1969. Other significant roles included an appearance in the Broadway play "Checkmates" with Denzel Washington, and his portrayal of Don King in a 1995 HBO movie.
A Los Angeles native, Winfield was born May 22, 1941. Until he was 8, he was raised by union organizer Lois Edwards, who later married Winfield's stepfather.
He was bused to the predominantly white Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and was named best actor for three years in a row in an annual Southern California high school drama competition.
He later studied drama at four colleges before leaving the University of California at Los Angeles six credits short of a bachelor's degree.
He is survived by his sister, Patricia Wilson, of Las Vegas.

Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker (December 18, 1937, New York - October 21, 2000,Florida) was a famous New York radio DJ. (Coined "Hollywood" for his keen sense of showmanship and self-marketing tactics.) According to popeducation.org, Frankie began his career in Buffalo, then moved to Soul station WWRL New York before being hired by top-40 WMCA in 1969. He later worked for WBLS-FM as program director, taking that station to the top of the ratings during the late 1970's. He sometimes called himself the "Chief Rocker," and he was as well known for his boastful on-air patter as for his off-air flamboyance.

When Studio 54 was at the height of its popularity, Crocker rode in through the front entrance on a white stallion. In the studio, before he left for the day, Crocker would light a candle and invite female listeners to enjoy a candlelight bath with him. Crocker was once linked to actress Jayne Kennedy after she divorced first husband Leon Issac Kennedy. At his peak, Crocker was the most famous black DJ in the world and the first to command and receive a six figure annual salary. His popularity was so immense, he worked in NY six months and worked the remaining six months in Los Angeles for a short time. Crocker died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. Mr. Crocker had been hospitalized in a Miami area hospital, where he died. He had kept his illness a secret from his friends and even from his mother, a former colleague of Mr. Crocker's told The Associated Press.

Sadly, actor Calvin Lockhart died from complications of a stroke in the Bahamas, recently. He was 72. Calvin Lockhart was most famous for his role in 1975 movie “Let’s Do It Again” as “Biggie Smalls”. When he was 18 years old, he migrated to New York City. Here, Calvin Lockhart attended the “Cooper Union School of Engineering”. After studied for one year he left it to start a career in acting. During his efforts in building up an acting career, Calvin Lockhart ran a Carpentry Business and drove Taxi.

Calvin Lockhart made his first appearance in “The Cool World” as a gang leader. Later on he transferred to Italy where he established his personal Theater Company; in which Calvin Lockhart directed and acted. Calvin Lockhart moved to West Germany and to England, here Calvin Lockhart landed many roles on “British TV” and also some small roles in movies like “Salt and Pepper and A Dandy in Aspic”. In 1970, Calvin Lockhart played his 1st lead role in “Halls of Anger” and also performed as a former basketball superstar and an English teacher. In the same year, Calvin Lockhart also starred as “Reverend Deke O’Malley” in “Ossie Davis’s Cotton Comes to Harlem”. Calvin became an actor at the “Royal Shakespeare Company” located in “Stratford-upon-Avon, England” in 1974.
Lockhart returned to the Bahamas in the late 1990s. He worked as a director on several productions of the Freeport Players Guild. Lockhart married New York Interior Designer Jennifer L. Miles, the mother of his son Julien Lockhart Miles.  Lockhart made his last movie "Rain," which was filmed in The Bahamas and not yet released. He is survived by his mother, Minerva Cooper; his wife, Jennifer Miles-Lockhart; sons Michael Lockhart and Julien Lockhart Miles; brothers Carney, Eric and Phillip Cooper; sisters, Melba and Delores. R.I.P. Mr. Lockhart.

This is my ongoing tribute to stars who passed away with little to no fan-fare. Follow my tributes every Tuesday.  Thanks fellas for your contribution to the world and for enriching our lives, may you RIP.