Norman Beaton

Acting

Norman Beaton

Born 1934-10-31 · Georgetown, Guyana

Norman Beaton was a popular and much loved Guyanese born British actor. He arrived in the UK in 1960 and worked as a calypso singer and musician and a teacher - being the first black teacher employed by the education authority in Liverpool. His heart set on a career in showbusiness, he moved to Bristol and became a presenter on the regional news magazine Points West, before a two week prison sentence curtailed his presenting career. He subsequently found work in London's West End, appearing in The Tempest as Ariel, a role he subsequently cited as the most important in his career. He helped set up the Black Theatre in Brixton in the mid 70s and broke into television with the first black British sitcom, The Fosters in 1976, playing Lenny Henry's father. A star turn in the movie Black Joy followed a year later, as did the principal role in the fledgling black soap Empire Road for the BBC. But it is perhaps his performance as Desmond Ambrose, the crotchety Peckham barber in Channel 4's hit sitcom Desmond's that Beaton will forever be remembered for. The series ran from 1988 until his ill health curtailed the show in 1994. He retired to Georgetown, the place of his birth, but collapsed and died of a heart attack at the airport on arrival, on 13th December 1994. He was 60 years old.

Acting credits

The Mighty Quinn poster
6.0

Police chief Xavier Quinn investigates the gruesome murder of Donald Pater, one of the wealthiest residents on a Caribbean island. He was found decapitated in his Jacuzzi. Although the local political establishment, especially crooked Governor Chalk, insists that small-time thief Maubee is responsible, Xavier has his doubts. This view is complicated by the police chief's personal history with Maubee: The men have been friends since childhood.

The Mighty Quinn

1989

Eureka poster
5.3

After striking it rich on a large gold strike, a prospector retires to the quiet life on a Caribbean island but ends up coping with an alcoholic wife, a headstrong daughter, and Miami mobsters who want to build a casino.

Eureka

1983

Nice poster
7.4

A naïve and "nice" West Indian's descent into postcolonial cynicism is depicted in a twenty minute monologue from writer Farrukh Dhondy.

Nice

1984

Rachel and the Roarettes poster
NR

A musical about female rebels in the 18th and 20th centuries.

Rachel and the Roarettes

1985

Airbase poster
NR

Hidden beneath an airbase the elite F-111 pilots live in a secret fantasy world as they wait, primed for the ultimate war game of World War Three. The arrival of the delicious Lieutenant Madeline Kohler detonates a chain reaction of deep rooted antagonism that explodes with cataclysmic consequences.

Airbase

1988

Up the Chastity Belt poster
4.1

A funny thing happened to Lurkalot, serf to Sir Coward de Custard, on the way to Custard Castle. Lurkalot sells lusty love potions and rusty chastity belts in the market place, but on this day Sir Graggart de Bombast arrives to sack the castle, and to get the lovely Lobelia Custard in the sack! Lurkalot must help Custard cream the knight in pining armour...

Up the Chastity Belt

1972

Real Life poster
7.0

A comedy about a dreamer whose Walter Mitty-like fantasies turn his world of make-believe into a world of trouble.

Real Life

1984

No artwork available
NR

A man who feels trapped by his life volunteers to become an exhibit in a zoo.

A Man in the Zoo

1975

No artwork available
7.0

A black busker helps helps two homeless kids.

Busker's Odyssey

1994

Black and White in Colour poster
10.0

A two part documentary that details the contribution of black and Asian people to television history from the birth of television in 1936 to 1992. Interviewees include: Pearl Connor, Thomas Baptiste, Lenny Henry, Norman Beaton, Horace Ové, Carmen Munroe, and Stuart Hall.

Black and White in Colour

1992

No artwork available
10.0

Film "Graceless Go I" based of the 1969 novel of the same name by Anthony Storey. A young and crass Yorkshire footballer and teacher embroils himself in a messy tussle with a drug-and-drink-addicted psychologist and his alluring missus. Explores the psychological turmoil of the three deeply troubled and unhinged characters.

Graceless Go I

1974

No artwork available
NR

When DC Denis Deacey finds himself surprisingly transferred to Belfast he gets digs in a most unusual boarding house called The Crumlin View where no one is what they seem and everyone has been living with 'the troubles' for far too long...

The Last Window Cleaner

1979

Pressure poster
6.5

A British-born younger son of an immigrant family from Trinidad finds himself adrift between two cultures.

Pressure

1976

When Love Dies poster
NR

A young man looks back over his unhappy marriage and struggles to come to terms with his wife's suicide.

When Love Dies

1990

Black Joy poster
6.8

An innocent and unsophisticated Guyanese immigrant is exposed to the hustlin' way of life in the Brixton ghetto.

Black Joy

1977

Easy Money poster
NR

At a concert Marcia picked Terry out of the crowd. So he no longer feels alone. Until he learns about her secret life and dare not tell his friends.

Easy Money

1982

No artwork available
NR

Guyanese painter Aubrey Williams (1926-1990) returns to his homeland on a “journey to the source of his inspiration” in this vivid Arts Council documentary, filmed towards the end of his life. The title comes from the indigenous Arawak word ‘timehri’ - the mark of the hand of man - which Williams equates to art itself. Timehri was also then the name of the international airport at Georgetown, Guyana's capital, where Williams stops off to restore an earlier mural. The film offers a rare insight into life beyond Georgetown, what Williams calls “the real Guyana.” Before moving to England in 1952 he had been sent to work on a sugar plantation in the jungle; this is his first chance to revisit the region and the Warao Indians - formative influences on his work - in four decades. Challenging the ill-treatment of indigenous Guyanese, Williams explored the potential of art to change attitudes. By venturing beyond his British studio, this film puts his work into vibrant context.

Mark of the Hand

1987

In Sickness and in Health poster
NR

A hard-working doctor must also carry the burden of a turbulent home life, due to the expectations of his demanding wife. Part of Thames Televison's Armchair Cinema.

In Sickness and in Health

1975

Growing Pains poster
5.0

An old book containing a strange poem resurrects a vengeful spirit from the dead. Originally an episode of British horror anthology TV series, Hammer House of Horror, that later received a feature release in the United States.

Growing Pains

1980

Endgame poster
9.0

A performance of Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame', a play in which nothing happens, once - unlike Beckett's first play 'Waiting for Godot' in which nothing happens twice. It is not a play about chess, in any explicit sense, but it does feature a lovable if curmudgeonly old man in a dustbin. Generally accepted to be Beckett's bleakest play - indeed after it's 1957 English debut at the Royal Court, the TLS's Olivier Todd quipped that it made Waiting for Godot look like "a cheerful operetta". However, Beckett himself described it as "the favourite of my plays." Although the programme was not broadcast until 1991 it was recorded in 1989 prior to Beckett's death and had his blessing. This production is particularly notable as it is first full-length television performance of the play.

Endgame

1989

Playing Away poster
6.0

To mark the conclusion of their "Third World Week" celebration, a cricket team in a small English village invites a black cricket team from South London to a charity game with comical results.

Playing Away

1987

Black Christmas poster
5.0

A bittersweet drama on a familiar theme - the frictions forced to the surface during a Christmas family get-together - Michael Abbensetts' Black Christmas is an understated and affecting study of relationships, unexpressed pain and a tormented nostalgia for a distant home.

Black Christmas

1977

No artwork available
7.0

Returning to England from Trinidad and Tobago for one night only, a former trickster finds that old friends and communities have moved on.

Big George Is Dead

1987