Lloyd Reckord

{{Short description|Jamaican actor and director (1929–2015)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Use British English|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Lloyd Reckord | image = Cropped_Photo_of_Lloyd_Reckord.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Lloyd Malcolm Reckord | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|05|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Kingston, Jamaica | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|07|08|1929|05|26|df=y}} | death_place = Jamaica | other_names = | relatives = Barry Reckord (brother) | education = | occupation = Actor, film maker, and stage director | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Lloyd Reckord''' (26 May 1929 – 8 July 2015) was a Jamaican actor, film maker, and stage director who lived in England for some years. Reckord appeared in 1958 in a West End production of ''Hot Summer Night'', which as an ITV adaptation broadcast on 1 February 1959 contained the earliest known example of an interracial kiss on television.<ref name=Bidnall>Bidnall, Amanda, ''The West Indian Generation: Remaking British Culture in London, 1945-1965'': "The first on-stage interracial kiss came in 1958 with the performance of Ted Willis's ''Hot Summer Night'', and one year later that same kiss came to the small screen with the play's adaptation for ITV's ''Armchair Theatre''."</ref> His brother was the dramatist Barry Reckord.<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Margaret Busby|first=Margaret|last=Busby|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/16/barry-reckord|title=Barry Reckord obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 January 2012}}</ref>

==Biography== Lloyd Malcolm Reckord was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 26 May 1929. He began his theatrical career with the Little Theatre Movement (LTM) pantomime at Ward Theatre. As reported by Michael Reckord in the ''Jamaica Gleaner'', "Reckord's first big role was as Tobias in a production of ''Tobias and the Angel'' at the Garrison Theatre, Up-Park Camp, when he was in his late teens.<ref name=Gleaner2 />

Fired from his job at his uncle's hardware store because he insisted that he had to leave early to play his role in the LTM pantomime, ''Alice in Wonderland'', Lloyd left Jamaica in 1951 when he was 21 to join his brother Barry, also a playwright and actor, in England."<ref name=Gleaner2 /> He auditioned and was accepted as a student at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, subsequently joining the Old Vic Company in London. He would also study theatre in the US, years later, at Howard University, Yale University and the American Theatre Wing.<ref name=Gleaner2 />

Reckord appeared in the Ted Willis play ''Hot Summer Night'' at the New Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London, in 1958, with Andrée Melly as his white girlfriend; a later ''Armchair Theatre'' adaptation the following year concentrated on the couple's relationship.<ref>{{cite web|first=Oliver |last=Wake|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1134115/ |title=Hot Summer Night (1959)|publisher=BFI |website=Screenonline|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref> The ITV Armchair Theatre adaptation of this play, broadcast on 1 February 1959, is currently the earliest known example of an interracial kiss on television,<ref name=Bidnall/><ref>Bourne, Stephen, ''Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television'' 144116135X - 2005: "It was during the scene when I kiss Andree Melly. A frail, rather timid and very gentle voice called out from the stalls — 'I don't like to see white girls kissing niggers'. There was dead silence in the theatre, and we went on with the play."</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/06/17/lesbian-kisses-nudity-and-sex-groundbreaking-british-tv-moments/ |title=Lesbian kisses, nudity and sex: groundbreaking British TV moments {{!}} TV|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=17 June 2016|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hot Summer Night – First inter-racial kiss? (01/02/1959)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqlVK0L7Hk|format=video|website=YouTube|publisher=VintageBritishComedy|accessdate=13 February 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-hot-summer-night-1959-online "Hot Summer Night"] at BFI Player.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=@DescantDeb|title=An Interesting Take on Race and Romance at the 2015 BFI Love Season|url=http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/tbbs-descantdeb-opines-interesting-race-romance-2015-bfi-love-season/|website=The British Blacklist|publisher=TBB|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127001900/http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/tbbs-descantdeb-opines-interesting-race-romance-2015-bfi-love-season/|archive-date=27 January 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and three years later he participated in another early televised interracial kiss in ''You in Your Small Corner'', a Granada ''Play of the Week'' broadcast in June 1962,<ref name=IMDB1>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926620/ "You in Your Small Corner (5 Jun. 1962)"], IMDb.</ref><ref>Liarou, Eleni, [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/537722/ "You in Your Small Corner (1962)"], BFI Screen Online.</ref> in which he kissed actor Elizabeth MacLennan. This claim had earlier been made for ''Emergency – Ward 10'', which postdates Reckord's earlier kisses. The play was written by Reckord's brother Barry,<ref>{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/20/tv-archive-discovers-couple-who-beat-kirk-and-uhara-to-first-interracial-kiss|title=TV archive discovers couple who beat Kirk and Uhura to first interracial kiss|work=The Guardian|date=20 November 2015|accessdate=20 November 2015}}</ref> and directed by Claude Whatham.<ref name=IMDB1 />

Reckord also acted in several television series, including ''Redcap (TV series)'' episode "Corporal McCann's Private War" 1964 as Colonel Mahadi, four episodes of ''Danger Man'' (1960–61, 1964–65),<ref name="Black">Blackman, Inge, [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/499732/index.html "Reckord, Lloyd (1929-)"], BFI screenonline.</ref> and ''The Human Jungle'' ("Enemy Outside", 1964), but feeling typecast as an actor, he wanted to move into direction.

With only limited funds, including a grant from the BFI, he made two non-commercial film shorts ''Ten Bob in Winter'' (1963, featuring Winston Stona, Bari Johnson, Peter Madden and Andrew Salkey, with a jazz soundtrack by Joe Harriott)<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2281487/?ref_=nm_knf_t1 "Ten Bob in Winter (1963)"], IMDb.</ref><ref>Blackman, Inge, [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/443844/index.html "Ten Bob in Winter (1963)"], BFI Screenonline.</ref><ref name=Gleaner>[http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110522/ent/ent5.html "Jamaica Film-Maker Works On London Project"], ''The Gleaner'', 22 May 2011.</ref> and ''Dream A40'' (1965).<ref name="Black"/>

Reckord later returned to Jamaica, where he worked as a stage director, with rare screen appearances, as in ''The Lunatic'' (1991) and ''Third World Cop'' (1999).

In 2011 his work featured in the Black London's Film Heritage Project, with the compilation ''Big City Stories''<ref>[http://blacklondonfilmheritage.org/programme.php "Big City Stories"], Black London's Film Heritage.</ref> including Reckord's 1963 film ''Ten Bob in Winter'', as well an excerpt from the television play by his brother entitled ''You in Your Small Corner'', in which Lloyd Reckord played the lead male character.<ref name=Gleaner /> His short film ''Dream A40'' was shown at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF) at the British Film Institute.<ref name=Gleaner />

Reckord died in Jamaica on 8 July 2015 after a short illness, aged 86,<ref name=Gleaner2>{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Reckord|url=https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20150711/theatre-veteran-lloyd-reckord-passes |title=Theatre Veteran Lloyd Reckord Passes|newspaper='Jamaica Gleaner|date=11 July 2015|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref> and his life was celebrated at a thanksgiving service on 29 July.<ref>{{cite news|first=Richard |last=Johnson|url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2015/07/28/lloyd-reckords-thanksgiving-service-today/ |title=Lloyd Reckord’s thanksgiving service today|newspaper=Jamaica Observer|date=29 July 2015|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Richard |last=Johnson|url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2015/08/21/lloyd-reckord-gave-his-life-to-film-and-theatre/#google_vignette |title=Lloyd Reckord gave his life to film and theatre|newspaper=Jamaica Observer|date=23 August 2015|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref> Lloyd Reckord and his siblings, Carol, Barry and Cynthia, have been described as forming "a dynasty that reshaped Jamaica's cultural landscape".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.libraryatpbcj.com/post/carol-reckord|title=Carol Reckord {{!}} Champion of Jamaican Agriculture and Cultural Advocate|website=libraryatpbcj.com {{!}} From Studio to Spotlight - PBCJ AV Library|publisher=Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica|access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1959|| ''Sapphire'' || Pianist in International Club || Uncredited |- |1961|| ''What a Whopper'' || Jojo || |- | || ''The Human Jungle'' || Dock worker || |- |1965|| ''Thunderball'' || Pinder's Assistant || Uncredited |- |1991|| ''The Lunatic'' || The Judge || |- |1999|| ''Third World Cop'' || Reverend || (final film role) |}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * {{screenonline person | 499732 }}  *{{IMDb name|0714515|Lloyd Reckord}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110801221822/http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/645 Lloyd Reckord discusses his career on the occasion of a rare screening of ''Dream A40''], video at BFI Live, 12 April 2012. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120722204708/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9ee8c682 Lloyd Reckord Filmography], BFI

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reckord, Lloyd}} Category:1929 births Category:2015 deaths Category:20th-century Jamaican male actors Category:Black British cinema Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican film directors Category:Jamaican male stage actors Category:Jamaican male television actors Category:Jamaican theatre directors Category:People from Kingston, Jamaica ––