Taurean blaque biography of martin

The Daily Herald. June 8, Never meanin' no harm. Retrieved Archived from the original on New York: Billboard Books. ISBN Inside Prime Time. New York: Syracuse University Press. The Macon Telegraph. The Toronto Star. Hill Street Blues. Season 3. Episode Jan 27, Season 1. May 26, The Pittsburgh Press. Birmingham Post-Herald. El cine espanol de la democracia: De la muerte de Franco al "cambio" socialista Barcelona: Anthropos.

New York: Harmony Books. The Honolulu Advertiser. The Opelika-Auburn News. May 10, The Desert Sun. January 1, The Charlotte Observer. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 28, The Montgomery Advertiser. Calgary Herald. February 13, February 14, The Seattle Times. He was partnered with boozy Detective JD LaRue Kiel Martin , who had a unique take on police work that sometimes straddled - or crossed - the lines of police policy.

Blacque remained a 'Hill Street Blues' member for all seven seasons. After the show ended, Blacque, in addition to remaining active in the Atlanta Black Theater Company and the North Carolina Black Theater Festival, was an original cast member of the groundbreaking TV soap opera 'Generations', the first daytime serial to feature an African American family as part of its main storyline.

In , Blaque married Shelby, who was a model then. Early life and career [ edit ]. As adoptive parent [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Filmography [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved July 21, July 22, Pearl Sharp. Life section, page Life section, page L External links [ edit ]. He agreed, however, and enrolled at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Soon he was hooked. Blacque struggled financially, living in a one-room apartment and getting by on McDonald's hamburgers. He even confessed that at one point, "… I was in three workshops at one time. Soon he was finding roles in community-theater productions, including one in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood for which Fame actress Debbie Allen served as choreographer.

It was a low-budget affair—"We'd all be running to the bank each week before the checks could bounce! By , Blacque had begun to make an impact professionally, appearing in productions of New York 's prestigious Negro Ensemble Company. That year, he traveled to Hollywood to audition for a role in a CBS network television series pilot.

He didn't get the part, but he decided to stay on in Los Angeles. He also had several small film roles, including one in Rocky II. Washington was one of two African American characters in the original cast of seven police officers staffing a precinct house in an unnamed Northeastern American city. The other, Detective Bobby Hill played by Michael Warren , had been developed in more detail by scriptwriters, and Blacque actually had to read the lines of the Hill character during his audition.

The sketchiness of his own part worked to his advantage after he was cast, for he was given the latitude to fill out the character on his own. The character's beard virtually unknown among black male television actors up to that time and his toothpick were both Blacque's ideas, as was his quiet, spiritual nature. The result was a distinctive character, looking back to the strong black figures of s cinema but smoothed-out in a way that fit into the innovative ensemble storylines of the series.

As Hill Street Blues became a critical and popular success over its eight-year run, some felt that Blacque's character received less attention than those of other members of the cast, and specifically than that of actor Kiel Martin, who played Washington's mercurial partner, J. Blacque pointed to his own quiet nature as part of the reason. I just try to do my job, do what they give me as best I can.

Lotta people squeak, and they still don't get the oil! Since he had arrived in Los Angeles, and all during the Emmy-winning run of Hill Street Blues , Blacque had been investing in Los Angeles real estate, buying several dilapidated properties and doing the renovation work himself. By the time Hill Street Blues began to wind down in the late s, Blacque owned multiple income-producing buildings.

Taurean blaque biography of martin

With West Coast real estate booming, it was a lucrative sideline. Financially secure, he moved into a home in the posh, predominantly African-American Baldwin Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. Around this time, he began to think about ways of giving back to his community. Part of the stimulus was a new commitment to Christianity that grew under the inspiration of the charismatic Rev.

Charles E. Blake of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, where Blacque became a deacon and served as part of a theater board that mounted Christian-oriented plays. He continued to perform in secular—or non-faith-based—dramas as well, both in Los Angeles and in New York, and he mulled the idea of starting a neighborhood theater troupe in Los Angeles.

Addresses: Home —Atlanta, GA. In , Blacque was asked to become a celebrity spokesperson for a Los Angeles County agency that worked to promote adoption among African Americans. As he encountered the stories of abused children who got little help from California's foster-care system, he felt a desire to do more than just give speeches and make commercials.