1. Edric Esclus Connor was a Caribbean singer, folklorist and actor who was born in Trinidad and Tobago.
13 Facts About Edric Connor
1. 2.
Edric Connor was a performer of calypso in the United Kingdom, where he migrated in 1944 and chiefly lived and worked for the rest of his life until he died following a stroke in London, at the age of 55.
3.
Edric Esclus Connor was born in 1913 in Mayaro, Trinidad.
4.
In 1955, Connor and his wife Pearl, whom he had married in 1948, set up the Edric Connor Agency, representing black actors, dancers, writers and musicians, which eventually, in the 1970s, she ran under the name of the Afro-Asian-Caribbean Agency.
5.
Edric Connor appeared at London's Prince's Theatre in 1956 in Summer Song, the life told through the music of Antonin Dvorak, in which Edric Connor was "given two of the show's most memorable moments in 'Deep Blue Evening' and 'Cotton Tail'", which he subsequently recorded.
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Edric Connor acted in 18 films, including his role as harpooner Daggoo in Moby Dick, directed by John Huston and co-starring Gregory Peck and Richard Basehart.
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Edric Connor co-starred with Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Lemmon in the 1957 film Fire Down Below, directed by Robert Parrish, playing Jimmy Jean, the third man on the "boat-for-hire" with Mitchum and Lemmon.
8.
In 1952, with his band "The Caribbeans" Edric Connor recorded, according to the AllMusic website, a "groundbreaking LP of Jamaican folk music" entitled Songs from Jamaica.
9.
Murray had arranged thirty Jamaican songs for voice and piano, and Edric Connor's recording generally uses Murray's arrangements.
10.
Edric Connor's acting for television included roles in the espionage series Danger Man as the character Thompson in "Deadline", and as opposition leader Dr Manudu in the series 2 episode entitled "The Galloping Major".
11.
Edric Connor directed the "Caribbean Carnival" event held in London's St Pancras Town Hall at the end of January 1959, organised by fellow Trinidadian Claudia Jones, and televised by the BBC.
12.
Edric Connor appeared on the BBC programme Desert Island Discs on 13 April 1959, when one of his choices was "Deep Blue Evening", from the show Summer Song, a recording on which he was a soloist.
13.
Edric Connor's name is associated with the "Edric Connor Trailblazer Award", of which a notable winner in 2003 was Rudolph Walker.