Partner Peter Pollock, buried together
Queer Places:
9 Prince of Wales Dr, London SW11 4SB, Regno Unito
Boubana Municipal Cemetery, Tangeri, Marocco
Paul Danquah, born Joseph Paul Walcott[1]
(25 May 1925 – 13 August 2015), was a British film actor, known
particularly for his role in the film A Taste of Honey (1961),
adapted from the 1958 play of the same name written by Shelagh Delaney. He
later became a barrister and a bank consultant.[2]
His father was the Ghanaian statesman J. B. Danquah.[3][4]
He was born Joseph Paul Walcott in London, England, where he grew up.[5] His mother, Bertha May Walcott, was English, and his father Joseph Boakye "J.B." Danquah was a Ghanaian politician and traditional aristocrat; Paul was the eldest of his many children from two marriages and various relationships.[6]
Danquah studied law and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, as well as in Ghana and in Washington, D.C. He subsequently worked as a consultant with the World Bank until his retirement in 1986,[2][4] and while living in Washington befriended African-American arts practitioners including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Roberta Flack and Nina Simone.[7]
While still a student, Danquah made his acting debut in the British film A Taste of Honey (1961), featuring in the role of Jimmy.[4][8] A review in The New York Times noted: "Paul Danquah in his movie debut as the Negro sailor, is gentle and subtle in a small but demanding role".[9] He presented the BBC Two television series Play School and is reported to have been the first black presenter of a children's programme in the UK.[10]
Francis Bacon lived with Danquah and Danquah's partner Peter Pollock (19 November 1919 – 18 July 2001)[11] in their Battersea flat from 1956 to 1961.[4][12] During this period, in late 1961, Danquah arranged for Don Bachardy to draw Bacon.[13] Danquah moved with Pollock to Tangier, Morocco, in the late 1970s.[4] In the late 1990s, Danquah and Pollock discovered a suitcase containing drawings by Bacon; these drawings were acquired by the Tate in 1996 and exhibited in 1999.[14][15][11]
Danquah died in Tangier on 13 August 2015 at the age of 90; according to his niece Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, he was buried in Boubana Cemetery, beside Peter Pollock, as he had willed.[6]
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