brock peters, a fine actor

is gone. he shall be remembered

Brock Peters of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Is Dead at 78

Brock Peters, the versatile film and stage actor, singer and producer who first rose to prominence in the 1960's and 70's with his powerful singing voice and poignant screen portrayals of angry, belligerent black men, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 78.....

......Among his most striking roles were the lead in the 1972 Broadway musical "Lost in the Stars" and in the later movie, and the minor but striking part of the man wrongfully accused of rape in the film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird," released in 1962.
Mr. Peters's first screen appearances were in two lavish 1950's all-black musicals directed by Otto Preminger. He was cast as Sergeant Brown, the brutal army officer who harasses Harry Belafonte in "Carmen Jones" (1954), and Crown, the equally terrifying Catfish Row villain who stalks Dorothy Dandridge in the 1959 film adaptation of George Gershwin's classic folk opera, "Porgy and Bess." His explosively convincing performances in the roles proved as much a burden as a blessing.
With his dark skin, searing eyes and intimidating scowl, Mr. Peters was quickly type-cast as the archetypal, menacing, black villain on screen. ............