Cy Grant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cy Grant

Background information
Date of birth: November 8, 1919 (1919-11-08) (age 88)
Birth location: British Guiana

Cy Grant (born November 8, 1919 in British Guiana) is Guyanese actor, singer, guitarist and writer who has had a career spanning over six decades.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Grant served as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was shot down and subsequently spent two years as a prisoner of war at the Stalag Luft III camp.

He later qualified as a barrister, but went on to become an actor on stage and in film, as well as a singer in concert, cabaret and films.

[edit] Television

He was the first black person to be regularly seen on British television, commonly known for performing a "topical calypso" on the BBC's Tonight programme in the 1950s. He also appeared in the BBC's Blake's 7 and provided the voice of Lieutenant Green in Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

[edit] Filmography

His film credits include:

[edit] Music

He was the chairman and co-founder of DRUM, the London-based Black arts centre in the 1970s and Director of Concord Multicultural Festivals in the 1980s.

[edit] Writings

He is the author of Ring of Steel, Pan Sound and Symbol, published by Macmillan Caribbean in 1999. It is a wonderful story of "Pan", "Kaiso" and "Mas". The book takes an in depth look into the history and evolution of this Caribbean musical tradition, complimented by myth and magic. Photographs, quotes and a rich perspective add extra flavour and understanding to the world of "Pan", and "Pan yard" culture.

His war memoir A Member of the Royal Air Force of Indeterminate Race, published by Woodfield Publishing in 2006, is a telling account of his experiences as a prisoner of war during the Second World War.

His most recent book, Blackness and the Dreaming Soul, published by Shoving Leopard in 2007, is an account of a long journey of self-discovery involving an ever deepening awareness of the causes of our current alienation from each other and the natural primordial world. It is an alchemical venture, exploring the darkness of the human psyche: being black and trapped in a white culture, as well as being white and caught in an ambush of denial. It is written without bitterness and recrimination. It is neither pure biography nor philosophical manifesto, but grows out of the author’s childhood as the great-grandson of a slave in British Guiana.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Grant, Cy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Singer, songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 1919-11-8
PLACE OF BIRTH British Guiana
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH