Barbara Assoon

Barbara Assoon (1929 – 14 April 2020) was a Trinidad and Tobago actress, journalist, and broadcaster.

Biography

Barbara Assoon was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The daughter of a French-Chinese acrobat,[1] she began her acting career in the mid-1940s. In 1948, she had a role in a production of Peter Ustinov's play The Indifferent Shepherd, acting in the first of many productions with Errol John.[1] In the following year, Assoon received a scholarship to study acting in England, choosing the Bristol Old Vic school, and appearing as Tituba in the first performance of Arthur Miller's The Crucible there on 9 November 1954.[2][3] Assoon spent the next 19 years in Britain and appeared in many radio, television and stage productions.[2][4][3] She performed in many radio soap operas as well as live TV dramas during the 1950s.[2] In 1957, Assoon made her Trinidadian radio debut in The Edwards Family, a soap opera.[1]

In 1958, she played Rosa in Errol John's play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at the Royal Court Theatre.[5] She reprised her role in The Crucible for British television, in a production also featuring Sean Connery.[1] She also played one of the leads in Fable (1965), an episode of The Wednesday Play by John Hopkins, an inversion of South African apartheid.[6] Hopkins' play reunited her with Thomas Baptiste; the two actors had played the first Black couple to appear in Coronation Street in 1963.[7][8]

In 1966, her English husband died; he was an accountant, the couple had a son. Assoon returned to Trinidad with her son in 1968 working with Radio Trinidad as a radio presenter especially on its programme intended for women. Her last appearance in a stage play was in 1990, in Derek Walcott's Remembrance, appearing with Norman Beaton.[1] After her retirement, she remained active in training the next generation of journalists.[9]

She died, aged 91, in Westshore Hospital, Cocorite, Port of Spain.[10]

Other television credits

References
  1. Allen-Agostini, Lisa (16 May 1999). "Smooth Sounds from Barbara Assoon". Sunday Guardian. Trinidad & Tobago. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007.
  2. Ogidi, Ann (2003–2014). "Assoon, Barbara". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  3. "Barbara Assoon | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  4. "Midweek Theatre: The Consolation Prize". November 1, 1967. p. 56 – via BBC Genome.
  5. Banham, Martin; Hill, Errol; Woodyard, George, eds. (1994). "Assoon, Barbara (1929—)". The Cambridge Guide to African & Caribbean Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 230–231.
  6. Lawrence, Ben (6 March 2020). "Apartheid Britain: rewatching Fable, the drama that predicted Noughts + Crosses". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. "Thomas Baptiste, actor and singer who played Coronation Street's first black character – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  8. Bourne, Stephen (2001). Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television. London & New York City: Continuum. p. 182. ISBN 9780826478986.
  9. Webb, Yvonne (16 April 2020). "Media icon Barbara Assoon dies at 91". Newsday. Trinidad & Tobago. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  10. "Tribute to Barbara Assoon | Trinidad and Tobago Government News". www.news.gov.tt. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
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