Cy Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in the United Kingdom, mostly due to his appearances on the BBC current affairs show Tonight.Following service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Grant worked as an actor and singer, before establishing the Drum Arts Centre in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he was appointed director of Concord Multicultural Festivals. A published poet and author of several books, including his 2007 memoir Blackness and the Dreaming Soul, Grant was made an Honorary Fellow of Roehampton University in 1997, and a member of the Scientific and Medical Network in 2001. In 2008, he assisted in the founding of an online archive to trace and commemorate Caribbean airmen of the Second World War.A father of four children, Grant lived with his wife, Dorith, in Highgate, London.
He was the great-grandson of a slave, one of seven children born to a Moravian minister and a music teacher.
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In 1974 founded Drum as Britain's first arts centre to showcasing black actors.
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Sang the original version of the worldwide hit "Feeling Good" (later made even more famous by Michael Buble) in the Anthony Newley-Leslie Bricusse stage play The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, opening at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, UK, August 3, 1964.
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He served in the RAF during WWII, and qualified as a barrister, before becoming interested in acting.
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Made British television history as the first black person to appear regularly on a British television series, singing topical calypsos.
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Guyanese-British singer and guitarist.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Metal Mickey
1981-1982
TV Series
Mr. Young
The Squad
1980
TV Series
Mr. Bartlett
Blakes 7
1980
TV Series
Hal Mellanby
At the Earth's Core
1976
Ra
Softly Softly: Task Force
1974
TV Series
Fordyce
Shaft in Africa
1973
Emir Ramila
The Persuaders!
1971
TV Series
Richard Congoto
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
1969
Dr. Gordon (uncredited)
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
1967-1968
TV Series
Lieutenant Green
The Honey Pot
1967
Revenue Agent (scenes deleted)
ITV Play of the Week
1957-1964
TV Series
The dreamer / Peter Stone aka Stoney
They Met in a City
1961
TV Series
Joshua Hughes
Calypso
1958
Peter
White Hunter
1957
TV Series
Arusna
Sea Wife
1957
Number Four
Galleon's Key
1956
TV Short
Tom Everly
A Man from the Sun
1956
TV Movie
Alvin Jarvis
Safari
1956
Chief Massai
Nom-de-Plume
1956
TV Series
Juan
Away in a Manger
1955
TV Movie
Singer of Christmas songs
Caviar to the General
1955
TV Movie
Joshua Johnson
Paradise Island
1954
TV Series
Napoleon Saturday
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
1953
TV Series
Ben
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Armchair Theatre
1971
TV Series theme sung by - 1 episode
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
1953
TV Series musician - 1 episode
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Black and White in Colour
1992
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself (1992)
Hullabaloo
1968
TV Series
Himself
Freedom Road: Songs of Negro Protest
1964
TV Movie
Himself - singer
Songs of Praise
1961
TV Series
Himself - Singer
Ask Anne
1961
TV Series
Himself
The Sunday Break
1958-1961
TV Series
Himself - Performer
Summerhouse
1960
TV Series
Himself
Words and Music
1960
TV Series
Himself
Home in Time
1960
TV Series
Himself
Tonight
1959
TV Series documentary
Himself - Performer
Alan Melville Takes You from A-Z
1959
TV Series
Himself
Studio E
1957
TV Series
Himself
Music for You
1955
TV Series
Himself
The Centre Show
1952
TV Series
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Anyone for Demis? How the World Invaded the Charts