Gordon Heath

Gordon Heath (September 20, 1918 – August 27, 1991) was an American actor and musician born in New York City, the only child of Cyril Gordon Heath, who had emigrated from Barbados, and Hattie Hooper. He demonstrated early aptitude in both music and art before choosing to pursue a career in acting, working in stage and radio productions.

Heath's Broadway career spanned 1943 to 1945, with credits including Deep Are the Roots and South Pacific. His 1945 appearance in Deep Are the Roots proved particularly significant: the play, written by Arnaud d'Usseau and James Gow, was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Barbara Bel Geddes, running for 447 performances. When the production transferred to London's West End, Heath reprised his co-starring role for its six-month run there. That same year, 1945, he joined New York radio station WMCA as its first Black staff announcer at a major US radio station.

Following the London run of Deep Are the Roots, Heath settled in Paris in 1948. He continued acting both in Paris and in London, where in 1950 he performed Othello on stage. He later played the title role in two live BBC television productions: The Emperor Jones in 1953, directed by Alvin Rakoff, and Othello in 1955, directed by Tony Richardson. The Othello telecast featured several kisses between Heath and Rosemary Harris and has been identified as a contender for the first interracial kiss on television. Heath also narrated the animated feature film Animal Farm in 1954.

From the 1960s, Heath directed the Studio Theater of Paris, an English-speaking production company, for ten years. The company brought together many of the city's regular English dubbing actors, among them Ginger Hall, Frederick Neumann, Barbara Sommers, Yves Brainville, and Lee Payant, who was also Heath's music and life partner. Heath and Payant operated a Left Bank café in Paris called L'Abbaye, where the two performed for a clientele that included Josephine Baker, Yves Montand, Eartha Kitt, and Rita Hayworth. Throughout the 1950s, the duo recorded multiple folk albums at the venue, releasing them on several international labels including Elektra Records. Payant died on December 14, 1976.

Heath died in Paris on August 27, 1991, following a lengthy illness. His memoir, Deep Are the Roots: Memoirs of a Black Expatriate, was published posthumously by the University of Massachusetts Press in 1992.