The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

It was with extreme sadness that I learned of the death of my good friend and fellow thespian, Calvin Cooper, while reading Fred Sturrup’s column in last Friday’s Nassau Guardian.

Mr Sturrup wrote about Mr Cooper’s many contributions in the field of sport, but I am sure that many people remember him for his fine contributions in the performing arts by virtue of his many sterling performances on the stage of the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts.

I had always heard that Mr Cooper, like myself was a frustrated artiste. His main love was the theatre, but he was a product of his time, and, instead of studying acting he became an engineer, once holding the lo fty position of Director of Works before relocating to Freeport, Grand Bahama where he was employed by the Grand Bahama Port Authority and where he became actively involved in theatre.

I met Mr Cooper when we first joined the Bahama Drama Circle in the mid-1960s and we were both active on the stage in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It was always a pleasure acting with him because he was the consummate professional, he always knew his lines and yours (as he often prompted me in “The Tender Trap” because I had to learn the role and perform within the period of a week).

I recall Keith Duncombe once remarking on the fact that with just a word a director could get Calvin to change a nuance and make a speech so much more telling.
Calvin played the lead in the Bahama Drama Circle’s first production of the wonderful Trinidadian play “Moon On A Rainbow Shawl”, he was the undertaker in “A Scent of Flowers”, and the rake in “the Tender Trap” all very different roles which he played to perfection.

His talent was also used very often on radio as he played the Bishop in the radio serial “The Fergusons of Farm Road” and the hotel owner in “Sam Finlay’s Sandcastle”.

Calvin played the role of Jesus in the first Bahamian made for television drama, which we produced for the Roman Catholic Church “He’s Alive”.

I always felt that his departure from New Providence left a void in the theatrical scene in the island, but Grand Bahama was the beneficiary of his talent.

I convey my condolences to his family and I know that he will be sadly missed.

JEANNE I THOMPSON

Nassau,

May 19, 2014.