Even in his 80s, Fred Pinkard could remember his lines.
The actor could recite whole passages from Shakespeare’s plays and other productions he had been in as a younger man, his daughter said. Until a few months ago, he worked at his craft in a career that stretched seven decades.
Mr. Pinkard belonged to a pioneering generation of African-American actors in Chicago who performed in black-produced radio plays and productions staged by the Chicago Negro Theater. After his Chicago years, he became a television and film actor cast in supporting character roles throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
“He did very well at it, even though he wasn’t a big name,” said his daughter Rita Pinkard, who lives in Flossmoor. “He was one of those who stuck with it and persevered. … He stood out among those.”
Mr. Pinkard, 84, died of heart failure Monday, Aug. 2, in Los Angeles Community Hospital in California. He had a massive heart attack just before Father’s Day, his daughter said.
A farmer’s son, Mr. Pinkard was born and raised in Shreveport, La. While in his early 20s, Mr. Pinkard came to Chicago, where he got a job with the Pullman Co. as a dining car waiter.
He also had a desire to train as an actor and began taking acting classes at Columbia College. Mr. Pinkard completed his dramatic-arts studies at the University of Minnesota.
Rita Pinkard didn’t know what drove her father in that career direction. But one thing was sure, she said: He loved the craft.
Mr. Pinkard’s aspirations were interrupted by war. His career took off in Chicago in 1946, after a year with the Navy in the Pacific.
He began a four-year association with some promising talented blacks, such as actor Oscar Brown Jr. Broadcast on WMAQ with Chicago Defender support, “Destination Freedom” was a series of weekly radio plays in which episodes focused on noted African-Americans–among them Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Langston Hughes.
Mr. Pinkard and Brown also were part of a black-run theater company, the Chicago Negro Theater. Mr. Pinkard left Chicago in the 1950s and pursued his stage career. He performed in many Broadway productions and at theaters around the country. They included the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and the New York Shakespeare Festival.
In Los Angeles, Mr. Pinkard accumulated a long list of smaller parts on TV shows and movies. He appeared in the “Mod Squad,” in the first “Bill Cosby Show” playing Cosby’s father, “Roots II,” “E.R.,” “Seinfeld” and the “Visitor.” “Rocky II” was among his films.
Despite finding himself limited to bit parts in many TV and film productions, his daughter said, he never let racial discrimination in casting discourage him from acting.
“He was always upbeat,” said Rita Pinkard. “He kept his dignity and his ideals.”
Other survivors include a son, Douglas, and two grandchildren.
Services for Mr. Pinkard were held in Homewood.
