Darryl Maximilian Robinson Homages The Vesatile Cleavon Little In His Tony Award-Winning Role Of "Purlie"!

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON OF THE EXCALIBER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY OF CHICAGO, REFLECTS ON THE CAREER OF A SKILLED AND ACCLAIMED LATE THEATRE ARTIST!

REMEMBERING CLEAVON LITTLE!

To most audiences in all mediums: stage, screen and television, this fine and talented African-American actor is best remembered as Sherriff Bart in Mel Brooks' 1974 smash hit parody of western films "Blazing Saddles," a role for which he would receive a 1974 BAFTA ( British Oscar ) Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles.

Though he would appear in featured and supporting roles in numerous films between the late 1960s through the early 1990s, the role of Sherriff Bart in "Blazing Saddles" remains to this day his most memorable screen role.

On television over the years as a guest performer, he would make appearances on numerous popular shows including "The Mod Squad," "All In The Family," "Baghdad Cafe," "The Rookies," "The Rockford Files," "Tales From The Crypt" and as a Preacher on the pilot of "The Waltons" entitled "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story."

And for three seasons from 1972 through 1974 ( with three different iterations of his cast ), he would play the starring role of a slick and conniving, ghetto-influenced intern named Dr. Jerry Noland on the sitcom "Temperatures Rising."

But for his very healthy gallery of tv roles, it would take until the late 1980s, when he played the role of a closeted gay man named Tony Larkin ( opposite his truly good friend and respected fellow acting colleague Judd Hirsch ) on the sitcom "Dear John" that he would earn from The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences a 1989 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series for an episode entitled "Stand By Your Man."

However, truly the medium that the late, great, and indeed, much-missed actor CLEAVON LITTLE loved the most working in, and was the most respected in, was THE LIVE THEATRE OF NEW YORK, WHERE HE MADE HISTORY IN 1970 AS THE VERY FIRST BLACK AMERICAN MALE PERFORMER TO WIN BOTH THE TONY AWARD FOR BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL AND A DRAMA DESK AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL ON BROADWAY FOR HIS CRITICALLY-PRAISED PERFORMANCE IN THE TITLE ROLE OF OSSIE DAVIS' TONY AWARD-WINNING AND NOMINATED "PURLIE"!

A musical drawn from and adapted directly from Davis' successful, Off-Broadway hit comedy "Purlie Victorious" about a conniving and charming Black Preacher who seeks to make some serious and righteous changes on a plantation ruled by a white, racist Ol' Capt'n in the deep south, Davis ( as the musical's chief book writer ) and his co-creators 1970 Tony Award-nominated Best Director and Best Producer Philip Rose ( also book ), Lyricist Peter Udell ( also book ), Composer Gary Geld and 1970 Tony Award-nominated Best Choreographer Louis Johnson chose to put the job of carrying the funny, racous, racial comedy of the book entirely on Mr. Little's wonderful and more than capable acting shoulders, while placing the burden of carrying most of the score on an amazingly gifted, Black Church Choir-style, singing and dancing ensemble as well as the truly vocally-brilliant Melba Moore as Purlie's comedic partner in mischief and romantic interest Luttibelle, who brought the house down twice every night with her solos "I Got Love" and the show's wonderful title song "Purlie."

Like the crowding-pleasing Cleavon Little, Melba Moore received both a 1970 Tony Award for Best Featured or Supporting Actress In A Musical and a 1970 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress In A Musical. And, because it was the occasion of Miss Moore's Broadway debut, she was also honored with a 1970 Theatre World Award.

"PURLIE" WAS THE MUSICAL THAT SOLIDIFIED BOTH CLEAVON LITTLE AND MELBA MOORE AS TOP-TIER BROADWAY STAGE STARS.

And having appeared on Broadway in multiple shows since the late 1960s, Cleavon Little realized the stage was where he was most at home. Where he felt the most joy. Where he felt happiness.

But, tragically, he was a star who would never have the opportunity to realize his full theatrical potential.

Born in 1939 in Oklahoma, and raised and reared and educated in the Greater San Diego area of California, Little had only been acting in New York for four years when he won his Tony. But he had been plagued by stomach ulcers and digestive problems since he was a child. Those problems persisted throughout his entire acting career.

Residing in Sherman Oaks, California, in 1992, at the age of 53, Cleavon Little, a highly-talented and respected stage, screen and television star would pass away from colon cancer.

His longtime acting colleague and friend Judd Hirsch ( the Oscar-nominated, Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-winning actor who co-starred opposite Cleavon Little on Broadway in 1985 in the hit Herb Gardner comedy "I'm Not Rappaport" ) would help establish an acting scholarship program in his late friend's name to assist young performers of color with the opportunity to follow their dreams with high-caliber training.

In 1994, Cleavon Little would be also be honored with a posthumous star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in acknowledgement of his work in film.

Included with this article are some images of the wide-ranging career of the late, gifted and very talented Mr Cleavon Little.

Enjoy.