Raymond St. Jacques

Raymond St. Jacques
File:Raymond St, Jacques Rawhide 1965.jpg St. Jacques as Simon Blake in 1965.
Born	(1930-03-01)March 1, 1930 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lymphoma
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Occupation	Actor

Raymond St. Jacques (March 1, 1930 – August 27, 1990) was an American actor. He was the first black actor to appear in a regular role on a western series, playing Simon Blake on Rawhide.

Career

St. Jacques (right) as Simon Blake with John Ireland, 1965

St. Jacques was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Vivienne Johnson, a medical technician. A life member of The Actors Studio, St. Jacques was best known for playing the role of Coffin Ed in the blaxploitation classics Cotton Comes to Harlem and Come Back, Charleston Blue. He had an early role in The Pawnbroker, and his other credits include The Green Berets, the Drummer in Roots, the street preacher in They Live, the investigator Baxter in The Invaders episode "The Vise" (1968), and a two year stint as Judge Clayton C. Thomas on the syndicated TV show Superior Court from 1988 to 1989. He also played abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Edward Zwick's Glory.

St. Jacques died from AIDS related lymphoma in Los Angeles, California in 1990.

Personal Life

St. Jacques had adopted, though not legally, at least two "sons," Raymond St. Jacques Jr. and Sterling St. Jacques. Both boys were allegedly St. Jacques' lovers. Sterling was said to have been found by St. Jacques in either Brazil or Jamaica and was later taken in by the actor. No official records exist of his life or death, except for a police report involving Sterling being at St. Jacques' home when two burglars broke in while Sterling was home alone and St. Jacques was away on set. Sterling was strikingly statuesque and was most famous for being a staple at Studio 54, often seen dancing with celebrities such as Grace Jones and Pat Cleveland (his later fiancee). He had bit acting roles and a few attempts at a music career in the early 80s. A woman named Allison Hobbs has stated that Sterling was actually her cousin and was from Salt Lake City, Utah. Sterling allegedly died in 1984 of AIDS-related complications, though no record of this has been found. When St. Jacques' relationships ended with his "sons" he told interviewers that Raymond St. Jacques Jr. went to Boston, boarding school or even an Ivy League university, and that Sterling had gone to Düsseldorf to film a TV show.

Selected filmography

• The Pawnbroker (1964)
• Mister Moses (1965)
• Mister Buddwing (1966)
• The Comedians (1967)
• Madigan (1968)
• The Green Berets (1968)
• Uptight (1968)
• Change of Mind (1969)
• Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
• Cool Breeze (1972)
• The Final Comedown (1972)
• Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972)
• Book of Numbers (1973)
• Lost in the Stars (1974)
• The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977, as Martin Luther King)
• Born Again (1978)
• Cuba Crossing (1980)
• The Evil That Men Do (1984)
• They Live (1988)
• Glory (1989)
• Voodoo Dawn (1990)
• Timebomb (1991)

External links

• Raymond St. Jacques at the Internet Movie Database
• Raymond St. Jacques at the Internet Broadway Database
• " 'Blast from the Past' with Raymond St. Jacques" for the WGBH series, Say Brother
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