ABOUT NORMAN BEATON
One of Britain's greatest black actors who performed to great acclaim on the West End and had a title role in Channel Four's Desmond's.
He was a popular calypso singer early in his youth, scoring a No. 1 hit in Trinidad and Tobago with Come Back Melvina, in 1959.
He started out in his theatre career creating and acting in his own plays, like Sit Down, Banna, which ran at at the Connaught Theatre.
He was married three times, and had five children.
He also had a guest appearance in the Bill Cosby Show, in tribute to his groundbreaking work for England's blacks.