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Brock Peters
Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess, and Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. He made his Broadway debut in the 1965 Norman Rosten play Mister Johnson. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for his lead role as Rev. Stephen Kumalo in the 1972 Broadway revival of the musical Lost in the Stars. He received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1991 and a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Peters voiced the role of Darth Vader in the serial radio drama adaptations of the original trilogy of Star Wars films, and played two recurring roles in the Star Trek franchise: Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in two of the original-cast feature films, and Joseph Sisko (father of station commander Benjamin Sisko) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Peters' notable film roles include Carmen Jones (1954), The Pawnbroker (1964), Soylent Green (1973) and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996).
Peters was born George Fisher in New York City, the son of Alma A. (née Norford) and Sonnie Fisher, a sailor. Peters set his sights on a show business career early on, at the age of 10. Avidly encouraged by his mother Alma to pursue a musical career, he studied the violin from 10 to 14 years of age, but he found out that his singing talents were more prodigious and upon enrolling at New York's famed High School of Music & Art, he immediately signed up for several productions in its musical theatre program. Upon graduation, Peters initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs, often working as a hospital orderly at night while he worked his way through physical education studies at the City College of New York (CCNY), but he still stayed connected to the burgeoning theatre and creative community in New York, occasionally doing background parts in musical plays like "Black Aida".
After auditioning and landing a spot touring with the Leonard DePaur Infantry Chorus (of which he was a civilian member from 1945 to 1947), he officially quit CCNY. Peters often joked that he "grew up" in the chorus, because his vocal range changed from baritone to bass baritone during his years with them. DePaur subsequently gave him the lead in the Chorus' popular rendition of "John Henry" (which became a repertoire mainstay of Peters in later years, singing the work on one of his two solo albums which was produced by United Artists Records in the 1960s).
At the suggestion of his agent, he adopted a more memorable stage name, reversing the order of the names of childhood friend Peter Brock.
After auditioning and landing a stage role in the touring company of Porgy and Bess in 1949 on contralto Etta Moten Barnett's suggestion, he went on tour with the opera, where William Warfield commended his performances and requested that Peters be his understudy as Porgy. It was during this time while he was touring in Europe with the opera that Paul Robeson saw him in his career-defining role as "Crown" and purportedly declared that he was "a young Paul Robeson".[citation needed]
Peters made his film debut in Carmen Jones in 1954, but began to make a name for himself in such films as To Kill a Mockingbird and The L-Shaped Room. He received a Tony nomination for his starring stint in Broadway's Lost in the Stars.
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Brock Peters
Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess, and Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. He made his Broadway debut in the 1965 Norman Rosten play Mister Johnson. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for his lead role as Rev. Stephen Kumalo in the 1972 Broadway revival of the musical Lost in the Stars. He received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1991 and a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Peters voiced the role of Darth Vader in the serial radio drama adaptations of the original trilogy of Star Wars films, and played two recurring roles in the Star Trek franchise: Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in two of the original-cast feature films, and Joseph Sisko (father of station commander Benjamin Sisko) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Peters' notable film roles include Carmen Jones (1954), The Pawnbroker (1964), Soylent Green (1973) and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996).
Peters was born George Fisher in New York City, the son of Alma A. (née Norford) and Sonnie Fisher, a sailor. Peters set his sights on a show business career early on, at the age of 10. Avidly encouraged by his mother Alma to pursue a musical career, he studied the violin from 10 to 14 years of age, but he found out that his singing talents were more prodigious and upon enrolling at New York's famed High School of Music & Art, he immediately signed up for several productions in its musical theatre program. Upon graduation, Peters initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs, often working as a hospital orderly at night while he worked his way through physical education studies at the City College of New York (CCNY), but he still stayed connected to the burgeoning theatre and creative community in New York, occasionally doing background parts in musical plays like "Black Aida".
After auditioning and landing a spot touring with the Leonard DePaur Infantry Chorus (of which he was a civilian member from 1945 to 1947), he officially quit CCNY. Peters often joked that he "grew up" in the chorus, because his vocal range changed from baritone to bass baritone during his years with them. DePaur subsequently gave him the lead in the Chorus' popular rendition of "John Henry" (which became a repertoire mainstay of Peters in later years, singing the work on one of his two solo albums which was produced by United Artists Records in the 1960s).
At the suggestion of his agent, he adopted a more memorable stage name, reversing the order of the names of childhood friend Peter Brock.
After auditioning and landing a stage role in the touring company of Porgy and Bess in 1949 on contralto Etta Moten Barnett's suggestion, he went on tour with the opera, where William Warfield commended his performances and requested that Peters be his understudy as Porgy. It was during this time while he was touring in Europe with the opera that Paul Robeson saw him in his career-defining role as "Crown" and purportedly declared that he was "a young Paul Robeson".[citation needed]
Peters made his film debut in Carmen Jones in 1954, but began to make a name for himself in such films as To Kill a Mockingbird and The L-Shaped Room. He received a Tony nomination for his starring stint in Broadway's Lost in the Stars.