Godfrey Cambridge
Encyclopedia
Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 - November 29, 1976) was an American
comedian
and actor
. Alongside Bill Cosby
, Dick Gregory
, and Nipsey Russell
, he was acclaimed by Time magazine in 1965 as "one of the country's four most celebrated Negro comedians."
, to Sarah and Alexander Cambridge, parents who were immigrants from British Guiana
. His parents, dissatisfied by the New York Public School System, sent him to live with his grandparents in Sydney, Nova Scotia
while during his primary school years. When he was 13, he moved back to New York and attended Flushing High School
in Flushing, Queens
.
In 1949 he received a four-year scholarship to Hofstra College to study medicine, which he attended for three years before dropping out to pursue a career in acting.
," as well as cleaning airplanes and making popcorn bunnies.
Cambridge's first role was as a bartender in the off-Broadway play Take a Giant Step
. He made his Broadway debut in the original production of Herman Wouk
's 1957 play Nature's Way. Cambridge received a 1962 Tony Award nomination as part of the original cast of Purlie Victorious, a play written by and starring Ossie Davis
; he was featured opposite an opening night cast that also included Ruby Dee
, Alan Alda
, Sorrell Booke
, Roger C. Carmel
, Helen Martin
, and Beah Richards
.
His memorable film roles include Watermelon Man
, where he plays the lead character, a white bigot who one day wakes up and discovers his skin color has turned black, and The President's Analyst
, where he plays a depressed government agent. He also had a starring role in the 1970 Ossie Davis
adaptation of the Chester Himes
novel Cotton Comes to Harlem, as well as its 1972 sequel, Come Back, Charleston Blue
. He also made an impressive cameo appearance in director Sidney Lumet
's Bye Bye Braverman
as a Yiddish speaking NYC cab driver involved in a car collision with the main protagonists, and another as a gay underworld figure in the 1975 Pam Grier
vehicle Friday Foster
. Cambridge had a starring role in Beware! The Blob
, a sequel to The Blob
. Sometime between 1972 and 1976 Cambridge produced and hosted a drug awareness film titled "Dead is Dead". The film depicted an uncensored look at the downside of drug-use, showing actual drug users injecting drugs and going through withdrawals.
Cambridge appeared on several network television programs, including Car 54 Where Are You? ("The Curse of the Snitkins"), The Dick Van Dyke Show
("The Man From My Uncle"), and I Spy ("Court of the Lion"). He also had a small speaking part as a member of Sgt. Bilko's platoon in The Phil Silvers Show
, 1957 episode 'Boys Town'. Cambridge gave an acclaimed performance alongside Tom Bosley
in the episode "Make Me Laugh" of Rod Serling's Night Gallery
, a story about a failed comedian who looks to a genie
for a quick fix to success; the episode was directed by Steven Spielberg
. He perhaps reached his largest television audience in a series of comical commercials for Jockey
brand underwear.
He later appeared in Jean Genet
's The Blacks: A Clown Show
, in a performance that earned him an Obie Award
in 1961. He also did a stock version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
four years later.
and Hollywood's Crescendo." He appeared on The Tonight Show
. His routines were imbued with biting sarcasm and trenchant topical humor that was common in comedic circles at the time. He was noted for comic lapses from standard educated speech to Black street-speak.
and actor Hugh Hurd, organized one of the first benefits for Martin Luther King, Jr.
held in New York City
; according to Angelou, it was held at the Village Gate
in the late 1950s and raised $9,000 for King's civil rights movement. (On his 1964 album Ready Or Not, Cambridge joked he was supporting Barry Goldwater
, saying that the GOP presidential nominee had "come flat out against slavery
...in principle!")
Cambridge married actress Barbara Ann Teer
in 1962; the couple divorced three years later. During the 1970s he remained in semi-retirement, making few public appearances and marrying Audriano Meyers in 1972.
at the age of 43 while on the Burbank, California
set of the ABC television movie Victory at Entebbe
, in which he was to portray Idi Amin
.
Amin claimed Cambridge's death was "punishment from God."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Alongside Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
, and Nipsey Russell
Nipsey Russell
Julius "Nipsey" Russell was an American comedian, best known today for his appearances as a guest panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, especially Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid...
, he was acclaimed by Time magazine in 1965 as "one of the country's four most celebrated Negro comedians."
Early years
Cambridge was born on February 26, 1933 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, to Sarah and Alexander Cambridge, parents who were immigrants from British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
. His parents, dissatisfied by the New York Public School System, sent him to live with his grandparents in Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
while during his primary school years. When he was 13, he moved back to New York and attended Flushing High School
Flushing High School
Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education....
in Flushing, Queens
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
.
In 1949 he received a four-year scholarship to Hofstra College to study medicine, which he attended for three years before dropping out to pursue a career in acting.
Stage and screen career
While pursuing an acting career Cambridge supported himself with a variety of jobs, including "cab driver, bead-sorter, ambulance driver, gardener, judo instructor, and clerk for the New York City Housing AuthorityNew York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority provides public housing for low- and moderate-income residents throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments...
," as well as cleaning airplanes and making popcorn bunnies.
Cambridge's first role was as a bartender in the off-Broadway play Take a Giant Step
Take a Giant Step
Take a Giant Step is a coming-of-age drama film, directed by Philip Leacock about a black teenager living in a predominantly white environment and having trouble coping as he reaches an age at which the realities of racism are beginning to affect his life more directly and pointedly than they had...
. He made his Broadway debut in the original production of Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
's 1957 play Nature's Way. Cambridge received a 1962 Tony Award nomination as part of the original cast of Purlie Victorious, a play written by and starring Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
; he was featured opposite an opening night cast that also included Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
, Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
, Sorrell Booke
Sorrell Booke
Sorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard....
, Roger C. Carmel
Roger C. Carmel
Roger Charles Carmel was an American actor.Of his hundreds of roles, he is best remembered for playing the flamboyant and hapless criminal Harry Mudd on the original Star Trek. Other memorable roles include the accountant Doug Wesley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Colonel Gumm on Batman...
, Helen Martin
Helen Martin
Helen Dorothy Martin was an American actress of stage and television who is perhaps most well known for her role in the sitcom 227 as Marla Gibbs' neighbor Pearl.-Early life and education:...
, and Beah Richards
Beah Richards
Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was a poet, playwright and author....
.
His memorable film roles include Watermelon Man
Watermelon Man (film)
Watermelon Man is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Melvin Van Peebles and based on the book The Night the Sun Came Out on Happy Hollow Lane by Herman Raucher...
, where he plays the lead character, a white bigot who one day wakes up and discovers his skin color has turned black, and The President's Analyst
The President's Analyst
The President's Analyst is a 1967 satirical comedy film written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, starring James Coburn. The widescreen cinematography was by William A. Fraker, and Lalo Schifrin provided the film's musical score...
, where he plays a depressed government agent. He also had a starring role in the 1970 Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
adaptation of the Chester Himes
Chester Himes
Chester Bomar Himes was an American writer. His works include If He Hollers Let Him Go and a series of Harlem Detective novels...
novel Cotton Comes to Harlem, as well as its 1972 sequel, Come Back, Charleston Blue
Come Back, Charleston Blue
Come Back Charleston Blue is a 1972 film starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, loosely based on Chester Himes' novel The Heat's On. It is a sequel to the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem.-Plot:...
. He also made an impressive cameo appearance in director Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
's Bye Bye Braverman
Bye Bye Braverman
Bye Bye Braverman is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Herbert Sargent was adapted from the 1964 novel To An Early Grave by Wallace Markfield...
as a Yiddish speaking NYC cab driver involved in a car collision with the main protagonists, and another as a gay underworld figure in the 1975 Pam Grier
Pam Grier
Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
vehicle Friday Foster
Friday Foster
Friday Foster was an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence, who was inspired when he saw Donyale Luna on television....
. Cambridge had a starring role in Beware! The Blob
Beware! The Blob
Beware! The Blob is a 1972 sequel to horror science-fiction film The Blob. The film was directed by Larry Hagman. The screenplay was penned by Anthony Harris and Jack Woods III, based on a story by Jack H. Harris and Richard Clair...
, a sequel to The Blob
The Blob
The Blob is an independently made 1958 American horror/science-fiction film that depicts a giant amoeba-like alien that terrorizes the small community of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania...
. Sometime between 1972 and 1976 Cambridge produced and hosted a drug awareness film titled "Dead is Dead". The film depicted an uncensored look at the downside of drug-use, showing actual drug users injecting drugs and going through withdrawals.
Cambridge appeared on several network television programs, including Car 54 Where Are You? ("The Curse of the Snitkins"), The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
("The Man From My Uncle"), and I Spy ("Court of the Lion"). He also had a small speaking part as a member of Sgt. Bilko's platoon in The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
, 1957 episode 'Boys Town'. Cambridge gave an acclaimed performance alongside Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley
Thomas Edward "Tom" Bosley was an American actor. Bosley is best known for portraying Howard Cunningham on the long-running ABC sitcom Happy Days. He also was featured in recurring roles on Murder, She Wrote, and Father Dowling Mysteries...
in the episode "Make Me Laugh" of Rod Serling's Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
, a story about a failed comedian who looks to a genie
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
for a quick fix to success; the episode was directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. He perhaps reached his largest television audience in a series of comical commercials for Jockey
Jockey International
Jockey International, Inc. is a manufacturer, distributor and retailer of underwear, sleepwear for men, women, and children. The company is based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Jockey is known for having invented the first men's Y-Front brief in 1934. Jockey is a recognized trademark in 120...
brand underwear.
He later appeared in Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's The Blacks: A Clown Show
The Blacks (play)
The Blacks: A Clown Show is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Published in 1958, it was first performed in a production directed by Roger Blin at the Théatre de Lutèce in Paris, which opened on 28 October 1959....
, in a performance that earned him an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
in 1961. He also did a stock version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
four years later.
Stand-up comedy
In addition to acting, Cambridge had major success as a stand-up comedian. By 1965 he was earning "as much as $4,000 a week...in all respects a headliner, working the best places, such as San Francisco's hungry iHungry i
The hungry i was originally a nightclub in North Beach, San Francisco. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1950.-The name:How the club's name came about is something of a mystery...
and Hollywood's Crescendo." He appeared on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
. His routines were imbued with biting sarcasm and trenchant topical humor that was common in comedic circles at the time. He was noted for comic lapses from standard educated speech to Black street-speak.
Personal life
Cambridge, along with writer Maya AngelouMaya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
and actor Hugh Hurd, organized one of the first benefits for Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
held in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; according to Angelou, it was held at the Village Gate
The Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York.Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 158 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as...
in the late 1950s and raised $9,000 for King's civil rights movement. (On his 1964 album Ready Or Not, Cambridge joked he was supporting Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, saying that the GOP presidential nominee had "come flat out against slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
...in principle!")
Cambridge married actress Barbara Ann Teer
Barbara Ann Teer
Dr. Babara Ann Teer was an American writer, producer, teacher, actor and visionary, African-American Barbara Ann Teer grew disillusioned with the negative stereotypes she came across in her quest for responsible acting roles. Instead of simply walking away from the white-dominated entertainment...
in 1962; the couple divorced three years later. During the 1970s he remained in semi-retirement, making few public appearances and marrying Audriano Meyers in 1972.
Death
Cambridge died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 43 while on the Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
set of the ABC television movie Victory at Entebbe
Victory at Entebbe
Victory at Entebbe is a made-for-television film from 1976 based on an actual event: Operation Entebbe and the freeing of Israeli hostages at Entebbe Airport in Uganda...
, in which he was to portray Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
.
Amin claimed Cambridge's death was "punishment from God."