News: Roy Stewart - The legend who paved the way for Black actors in Britain

Roy Stewart, who has died aged 83, combined a career as one of the most prolific black actors in Britain - his output ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to the Carry Ons - with running a gym and restaurant in west London. Despite the somewhat demeaning nature of many of his roles - his characters were often identified merely as "negro", "dervish" or "native bearer" - he enjoyed great personal popularity, not just as a friend and host to many stars, but as someone who helped break down discriminatory barriers in the postwar era.

Born in Jamaica, he was one of seven brothers. He arrived in Britain in the late 1940s, planning to become a doctor, but became sidetracked by the theatre, appearing as a bit player in several stage plays. His earliest movie appearances were as a stuntman. Having noticed the preponderance of white stuntmen "blacked up", he offered the genuine article.
Alarmed by how skinny he looked on screen, and intent on building himself up, in 1954 he opened a gym bearing his name in Powis Square, Kensington, west London, which adopted a policy of allowing all races to train there.

Several actors used the gym too, including Dave Prowse, the future Darth Vader and a close friend of Stewart's. Later, friendly words from Stewart helped Arnold Schwarzenegger, another habitué, as he prepared to take the Mr Universe title in London.
In the 1960s, Stewart opened the Globe, a Caribbean restaurant and nightclub in Bayswater. Patrons there included Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Van Morrison and Bono. He was also involved with an agency specialising in black performers.

One of his earliest television appearances came in a BBC classic serial, The Count of Monte Cristo (1964). The star was Alan Badel, with whom Stewart worked again in Gordon of Khartoum (1966), a Play of the Month directed by Rudolph Cartier. Episodes of Adam Adamant Lives! (1966) and The Avengers (1968) followed, as did a highly patronising commercial for chocolate, in which he was summoned at the click of a finger. His fight with a cyberman in Doctor Who (1967) caused some complaints from squeamish viewers. Four years later, he returned to manhandle the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) as a circus strongman.

In Godard's Sympathy for the Devil (1968), originally titled One Plus One, his scenes as an advocate of black power were intercut with rehearsal footage of the Rolling Stones, who were also visitors to the Globe. Another of his many servant roles was in Charlton Heston's film Julius Caesar (1970).

Among his numerous slave roles were Hammer's Twins of Evil (1971) and Carry On Up the Jungle (1970). There was also an interchangeable role in an episode of Up Pompeii! (1970). By contrast, in Dennis Potter's Son of Man (1969), he took part in a boxing match witnessed by Pontius Pilate (Robert Hardy) and appeared in I, Claudius seven years later.
Stewart played James Bond's contact man in the Caribbean in Live and Let Die (1973), Roger Moore's debut (his predecessor, Sean Connery, had used Stewart's gym). He particularly enjoyed playing a character based on Idi Amin in Follow Me (1977), an ITV children's adventure series.

Having retired from acting in the early 1980s, he remained in charge of the Globe until his death. He is survived by two daughters, two brothers and two grandchildren.

• Roy Stewart, actor and businessman, born 15 May 1925; died 27 October 2008

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