Arthur French, a prolific and acclaimed (if comparatively unsung) actor who was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Firm, died on July 24 in Manhattan. He was 89.
His demise, in a hospital, was introduced by his son, the playwright Arthur W. French III, in a publish on Fb.
Mr. French roughly stumbled into his theatrical profession. After abandoning early plans to develop into a preacher, he aspired to be a disc jockey, however when he confirmed up on the D.J. faculty he had hoped to attend, he discovered that it had closed after bribery investigations started into the radio payola scandal of the late Fifties.
Happily, the Dramatic Workshop, the place Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler taught, was situated in the identical constructing, and Mr. French signed up for lessons. He was coached by the actress Peggy Feury; he caught the eye of Maxwell Glanville’s American Negro Theater; and his profession as a supporting actor was born.
Mr. French made his skilled debut Off Broadway in “Raisin’ Hell within the Son,” a spoof of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin within the Solar,” on the Provincetown Playhouse in 1962. Three years later he appeared in Douglas Turner Ward’s “Day of Absence,” which spawned the Negro Ensemble Firm. He first appeared on Broadway in Melvin Van Peebles’s musical “Ain’t Speculated to Die a Pure Loss of life” in 1971.
“That’s once I determined to stop my Social Service job,” he mentioned in a latest interview with the humanities journal Gallery & Studio. He had been working days as a clerk with New York Metropolis’s welfare division.
Mr. French appeared in Broadway revivals of “The Iceman Cometh” (1973), “Loss of life of a Salesman” (1975) and “You Can’t Take It With You” (1983). His movies included Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” (1992) and “Crooklyn” (1994). Amongst his many tv appearances had been three episodes of “Regulation & Order,” two of “Regulation & Order: Particular Victims Unit” and one among “Regulation & Order: Prison Intent.”
Reviewers typically known as consideration to his sonorous voice and the civility of his performances; his notices in The New York Occasions had been persistently constructive. Reviewing his portrayal of Bynum, a “conjure man,” in a 1996 revival of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” on the Henry Road Settlement, Vincent Canby known as it “a variation on the seer, generally the fool savant, who turns up with regularity in Mr. Wilson’s work however by no means as totally realized because the character is right here.”
When Mr. French was seen in “Checkmates” on the similar theater that 12 months, Lawrence Van Gelder wrote in The Occasions, “The true treats are Ruby Dee and Arthur French because the Coopers, gifted previous execs who tickle the humorous bone and contact the center.”
He sometimes directed, most lately a 2010 manufacturing of Steve Carter’s 1990 play “Pecong,” a retelling of the Medea story set within the Caribbean, on the Off Off Broadway Nationwide Black Theater.
Mr. French taught on the HB Studio in New York. He acquired an Obie Award for sustained excellence of efficiency in 1997 and a Lucille Lortel Award for his supporting function in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Working” in 2007. In 2015, he was awarded a Paul Robeson Quotation from the Actors’ Fairness Affiliation and the Actor’s Fairness Basis for his “dedication to freedom of expression and respect for human dignity.”
Arthur Wellesley French Jr. was born on Nov. 6, 1931, in Harlem to immigrants from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines within the Caribbean. His father, a former seaman, died younger; Arthur himself survived a bout with bronchial asthma. His mom, Ursilla Idonia (Ollivierre) French, was a garment staff’ union organizer, and Arthur helped her earn more money by embroidering materials she took house.
His mom inspired him to take music classes, which led to a piano recital at Carnegie Corridor. He attended Morris Excessive Faculty within the Bronx earlier than transferring to the Bronx Excessive Faculty of Science; after graduating, he attended Brooklyn Faculty.
In 1961, he married the singer Antoinette Williams. She died earlier than him. Along with their son, he’s survived by a daughter, Antonia Willow French, and two grandchildren.
Within the Gallery & Studio interview, Mr. French was requested what he had discovered about himself throughout his 50-year profession.
“I just like the world of fantasy,” he replied. “And my father informed me, ‘Be taught one thing so properly that you just gained’t need to elevate up something heavier than a pencil.’”
