BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " RAYMOND ST JACQUES " WAS AN ACTOR WHO WAS THE FIRST BLACK ACTOR TO APPEAR IN A REGULAR ROLE ON A WESTERN SERIES, PLAYING SIMON BLAKE ON RAWHIDE : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

   BLACK             SOCIAL            HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Raymond St. Jacques

Raymond St. Jacques
St. Jacques (right) as Simon Blake with John Ireland, 1965.
Born	March 1, 1930 Hartford, Connecticut
Died	August 27, 1990 (aged 60) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Lymphoma
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Occupation	Actor

Raymond St. Jacques (March 1, 1930 – August 27, 1990) was an American actor. He was the first black actor to appear in a regular role on a western series, playing Simon Blake on Rawhide.

Career

St. Jacques was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Vivienne Johnson, a medical technician.^[1] A life member of The Actors Studio,^[2] St. Jacques was known for playing the roles of Coffin Ed in the 1970 blaxploitation classic Cotton Comes to Harlem, The Green Berets, he had an early role in The Pawnbroker, the street preacher in They Live, the investigator Baxter in The Invaders episode "The Vise" (1968), and a two year stint as Judge Clayton C. Thomas on the syndicated TV showSuperior Court from 1988 to 1989. He also played abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Edward Zwick's Glory.

St. Jacques died from AIDS related lymphoma in Los Angeles, California in 1990.