|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
Sir Lancelot 1903-2001 Sir Lancelot was born Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard, to well-to-do Anglophile parents in Trinidad, c. 1903, in Cumuto, Trinidad [now Trinidad and Tobago]. But, it wasn't until schooling took him to New York City in 1940 that he discovered a love of calypso music. In a profession where successful artists commonly took names like King Radio or Lord Invader, it was natural for someone named Lancelot to choose the stage name Sir Lancelot, and with that name he wrote and performed calypso (with some acting on the side) for movies (most notably his films for Val Lewton), live theater, and radio beginning in the 1940's. Died March 12, 2001, Anaheim, California. Film and Television: From Brad Beshaw from http://www.tabletnewspaper.com/old%20tablet/vol2iss_14/hwooddeath.htm: Born Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard in Cumuto, Northern Trinidad, the boy who would become the vanguard exponent of Calypso music (years before Harry Belafonte) was already giving classical vocal recitals at age 6. His tenor voice, treated by Pinard's well-to-do parents as more hobby than career choice, was temporarily shelved when he was sent to NYC to study medicine. While in New York he was asked to sing a few Calypsos by a local orchestra leader, and in 1940 at the Village Vanguard, Lancelot's two-week engagement wound up lasting a year. Shortly thereafter, Sir Lancelot embarked on a campus tour of the western states, terminating in Los Angeles. Serendipitously, Columbia studios were currently in pre-production on a film called Two Yanks in Trinidad (1941) starring Pat O'Brien and Brian Donlevy, and Lancelot was chosen to add a bit of local color (albeit, uncredited local color) to the proceedings. His first credited role arrived courtesy of RKO producer Val Lewton, for whom Lancelot would make three pictures beginning with 1943's I Walked With a Zombie. In a role more Greek Chorus than character part, Sir Lancelot provides running commentary for cast and audience alike, courtesy of the Calypso number Fort Holland (later covered by folk singer Odetta). Considered a masterpiece of understated horror, Zombie is bolstered by the presence of Francis Dee, Tom Conway, and the excellent direction of Jacques Tourneur. Next, it was off to Paramount for the Mary Martin/Dick Powell musical, Happy Go Lucky (1943). Novelty music fans may recognize Lancelot's song Ugly Woman, which was later popularized by Jimmy Soul under the title If You Want To Be Happy. Following his involvement in Lewton's Ghost Ship (1943) and Curse of the Cat People (1944) Lancelot's acting mettle was tested under the direction of Howard Hawks, in Lauren Bacall's auspicious debut (opposite Humphry Bogart), To Have and Have Not. The perfect counterpoint to this sober drama was provided by Zombies on Broadway (1945)3Ž4an RKO vehicle for its Abbot and Costello knock-offs, Carney and Brown 3/4, featuring a parody of the Fort Holland song, and a "zombie expert" played by, who else, Bela Lugosi. However, his Calypso music wasn't always employed merely for entertainment's sake. In 1947, the same year he played a prisoner in the Burt Lancaster starrer Brute Force, Lancelot was crooning for Third Party progressive presidential candidate Henry Wallace. Joining a small legion of Hollywood's best and brightest (Katharine Hepburn among them) in singing the praises of the only Washington politico to speak out in defense of the "Hollywood Ten" in open defiance of the HUAC. Retiring from films in 1958, Sir Lancelot continued performing throughout the 1970s, and joined Ry Cooder at McCabe's Guitar Shop, for several final live appearances in the 1980s. He was 98.
|
