Norman Beaton - Success

Success

In the early 1970s, Beaton began to perform in plays in London's West End. In 1970 he played the role of Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest, which he described in his autobiography as "the most important role of my acting career". In 1975, he helped to establish the Black Theatre of Brixton. In 1975 Beaton played Nanki-Poo in The Black Mikado, a modern version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. In 1976, Beaton broke into television in the series The Fosters, which also featured a young Lenny Henry, and the following year played the lead role in a low-budget independent film about a West Indian community in London, Black Joy; he also appeared in the BBC series Empire Road. However, it was his six-year run (starting in 1988) in Channel Four's Desmond's, (written by Trix Worrell) as the title character, that would become his best known role. For Desmond's Beaton received the Royal Television Society Best Comedy Performer Award.

He played the lead role of Willie Boy in the 1987 comedy Playing Away, about a West Indian cricket team invited to play a rural white team. He appeared as a guest on The Cosby Show in 1991 (episode: "There's Still No Joy in Mudville"), and in Little Napoleons. He also appeared in several movies, including The Mighty Quinn (1989). After years of hard living began taking its toll on his health, Beaton retired to Guyana in 1994 (just as his character in Desmond's was doing the same), where he collapsed at the airport and died a few hours later at the age of 60. He is survived by five children from three marriages.