JD’s Revenge and Hollywood Shuffle Actor Turns 87 – The Hollywood Reporter

David McKnight

Courtesy of Cynthia Busby/Busby Promotions

David McKnight, who portrayed the main character in the classic horror film Blaxploitation JD’s revenge And he appeared in Hollywood dodgy And The five heartbeats As for Robert Townsend, he was dead. He was 87 years old.

McKnight died of cancer Sunday in Las Vegas, his friend and publicist Cynthia Busby said. Hollywood Reporter.

McKnight has also appeared on dozens of television shows, from Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The amazing structure, Dynasty And Benson to Extra work, 227, Rock, Los Angeles Law And Boycott.

In the New Orleans group JD’s revenge (1976), directed by Arthur Marks, McKnight played a deceased con man who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and hunts down the man who killed him and his sister 30 years earlier.

In a 2018 interview, McKnight said he first met Townsend when the first-time feature director was making the film. Hollywood dodgy (1987) and gave him advice.

He was then set to play Uncle Ray, a singer-turned-barber who encourages Townsend’s Bobby Taylor to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. McKnight said he brought his own photographs from home to help decorate the barbershop depicted in the film, which was produced on a shoestring budget.

McKnight later portrayed Reverend Stone in the film Townsend The five heartbeats (1991) He was the father of Townsend’s Robert Peterson in a 1995 episode of the show Parental hooda WB sitcom co-created by Townsend.

David Lee McKnight was born on July 2, 1936 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and moved with his family to Chicago when he was four years old. He attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School, where he discovered acting, and Wilson Junior College in his hometown; He served with the US Army. He worked as a police officer.

In 1970, McKnight starred in the first all-black television series, Richard Durham Iron feather bird, which was broadcast on WTTW in Chicago. It was his first two films JD’s revengeStarring Sam Elliott Lifeguard (1976) and Michael Crichton coma (1978).

His resume includes two films written by J. F. Laughton, Pizza man (1991) and Andrew Davis Under siege (1992), plus Taste of hemlock (1989) and Pump up the volume (1990). Most recently, he appeared with Vivica A. Fox in the 2016 TV movie Husband for Christmas And in the 2019-23 web series A house divided.

“McKnight was an extremely skilled and accomplished actor, and his contributions as an African-American theater actor throughout his career, like many during his era, have gone unsung,” Professor Rell Dowdell, director of film studies at Hampton University, said in a statement.

Busby noted that McKnight was a great dancer, a stylish choreographer and a member of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills branch of the NAACP. She has put together a tribute video for him that can be seen here.

Survivors include his brother, James, and a daughter.