Clarke Peters
Encyclopedia
Clarke Peters is an American actor
, singer, writer
and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon
on the HBO drama The Wire
.
and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey
. At the age of twelve, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady
. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of 14. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School
in 1970.
Shortly before he left the United States, he was arrested, but then later cleared, after an anti-Vietnam war demonstration for obstructing police lines. He later said of this experience: "It made me more angry than anything else, because what I experienced was how impotent you could be as an American citizen."
in Paris, in which he later starred. While there, he received a letter from the FBI that accused him of draft evasion. When he went to New Jersey to contest his charge, he said "if the enemy comes to America, I'll be there, but I don't know the Vietnamese. If you put me in the army, I'm not going there."
In 1973, he moved to London, and changed his name to Clarke Peters because Peter Clarke was such a common name. While in London, he formed a soul band, The Majestics, and worked as a backup singer on such hits as "Love and Affection
" by Joan Armatrading
, "Boogie Nights
" by Heatwave
, and some David Essex
songs. However, music was not Peters' main ambition, and he preferred to work in the theater.
His first West End theatre
musical roles, which he received with assistance from his friend Ned Sherrin
, were I Gotta Shoe (1976) and Bubbling Brown Sugar
(1977). Other West End credits include Blues in the Night
, Porgy and Bess
, The Witches of Eastwick
, Chicago
, and Chess
.
After writing several revue
s with Sherrin, In 1990 Peters wrote the revue Five Guys Named Moe
, which received a Tony Award
nomination for Best Book of a Musical. He followed this up with Unforgettable, a musical about Nat King Cole
, which received "shocking" reviews. He starred in the 2010 UK production of Five Guys Named Moe.
As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway
in The Iceman Cometh
(1999), which won him the Theatre World Award
, and as shady lawyer Billy Flynn in the revival of Chicago in 2000 and 2003. In regional theatre
he has appeared in Driving Miss Daisy
, The Wiz
, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
, Carmen Jones
, and The Amen Corner
.
Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon
in the critically acclaimed HBO
series The Wire
. Peters also starred in the HBO mini series The Corner
, portraying a drug addict named Fat Curt, as well as the FX series Damages
as Dave Pell. Both The Wire and The Corner were created by writer and former Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon
. Peters also stars in Simon's HBO series Treme
. Other screen credits include Notting Hill
, K-Pax
, Mona Lisa
, Freedomland
, and Marley & Me
.
He also appeared in the UK show Holby City
, appearing as Derek Newman, the father of nurse Donna Jackson
. He voiced a part in the Doctor Who
animated episode Dreamland
. And in the In Plain Sight
episode Duplicate Bridge
as a man in Witness Protection
named Norman Baker/Norman Danzer. He played Nelson Mandela in the 2009 film, Endgame. In 2010, he read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
for BBC 7
.
In the HBO drama series Treme
created by The Wire creator David Simon, he plays the role of Albert Lambreaux.
In September 2011, Peters appeared on stage in a Sheffield Crucible Theatre
production of Shakespeare's Othello
, playing the title role
opposite his Wire co-star Dominic West
, who played the evil Iago
.
, and is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris.
An earlier relationship produced two sons: Joe Jacobs
, an actor, and Guppy, who died of a kidney tumor
at the age of four in 1990.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, singer, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
on the HBO drama The Wire
The WIRE
the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...
.
Early life
Peters was born Peter Clarke as the second of four sons in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
. At the age of twelve, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of 14. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School
Dwight Morrow High School
Dwight Morrow High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Englewood, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Englewood Public School District. The school also serves students from Englewood Cliffs, who attend as part of a sending/receiving relationship...
in 1970.
Shortly before he left the United States, he was arrested, but then later cleared, after an anti-Vietnam war demonstration for obstructing police lines. He later said of this experience: "It made me more angry than anything else, because what I experienced was how impotent you could be as an American citizen."
Career
In 1971, Peters' elder brother enabled him to work as a costume designer for a production of the musical HairHair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
in Paris, in which he later starred. While there, he received a letter from the FBI that accused him of draft evasion. When he went to New Jersey to contest his charge, he said "if the enemy comes to America, I'll be there, but I don't know the Vietnamese. If you put me in the army, I'm not going there."
In 1973, he moved to London, and changed his name to Clarke Peters because Peter Clarke was such a common name. While in London, he formed a soul band, The Majestics, and worked as a backup singer on such hits as "Love and Affection
Love and Affection
"Love and Affection" is a song by Joan Armatrading. Her fourth single, and her third for A&M Records, it was her first chart success. It reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1976. One of her best known recordings, it has been described as a "deceptively feisty ballad... an instant...
" by Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist...
, "Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights (song)
"Boogie Nights" is a 1976 single by the British-based funk-disco group Heatwave. It was the group's debut single and was written by Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle...
" by Heatwave
Heatwave (band)
Heatwave was an international funk/disco musical band featuring Americans Johnnie Wilder, Jr. and Keith Wilder of Dayton, Ohio, Englishman Rod Temperton , Swiss Mario Mantese , Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger , Jamaican Eric Johns and Briton Roy Carter .They were known for their successful...
, and some David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
songs. However, music was not Peters' main ambition, and he preferred to work in the theater.
His first West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
musical roles, which he received with assistance from his friend Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
, were I Gotta Shoe (1976) and Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Fats...
(1977). Other West End credits include Blues in the Night
Blues in the Night (musical)
Blues in the Night is a musical revue conceived by Sheldon Epps. It was produced by Mitchell Maxwell, Alan J. Schuster, Fred H. Krones and M Squared Entertainment, Inc., and Joshua Silver ....
, Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
, The Witches of Eastwick
The Witches of Eastwick (musical)
The Witches of Eastwick is a 2000 musical based on the novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe , directed by Eric Schaeffer, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh....
, Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
, and Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
.
After writing several revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s with Sherrin, In 1990 Peters wrote the revue Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
, which received a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Book of a Musical. He followed this up with Unforgettable, a musical about Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, which received "shocking" reviews. He starred in the 2010 UK production of Five Guys Named Moe.
As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
(1999), which won him the Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
, and as shady lawyer Billy Flynn in the revival of Chicago in 2000 and 2003. In regional theatre
Regional theatre in the United States
Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...
he has appeared in Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
, The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 1982 play - one of the ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright - that chronicles the twentieth century African American experience...
, Carmen Jones
Carmen Jones
Carmen Jones is a 1943 Broadway musical starring Muriel Smith in the title role, later made into a 1954 musical film; the play also ran for a season in 1991 at London's Old Vic and most recently in London's Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in 2007. It is an updating of the Georges Bizet...
, and The Amen Corner
The Amen Corner
The Amen Corner is a three-act play by James Baldwin. It was Baldwin's first attempt at theater following Go Tell It on the Mountain. It was first published in 1954, and inspired a short-lived 1983 Broadway musical adaptation with the slightly truncated title, Amen Corner.-Plot introduction:The...
.
Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
in the critically acclaimed HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
series The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
. Peters also starred in the HBO mini series The Corner
The Corner
The Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
, portraying a drug addict named Fat Curt, as well as the FX series Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...
as Dave Pell. Both The Wire and The Corner were created by writer and former Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
. Peters also stars in Simon's HBO series Treme
Treme (TV series)
Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
. Other screen credits include Notting Hill
Notting Hill (film)
Notting Hill is a 1999 British romantic comedy film set in Notting Hill, London, released on 21 May 1999. The screenplay was by Richard Curtis, who had written Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was produced by Duncan Kenworthy and directed by Roger Michell...
, K-Pax
K-PAX
K-PAX is the name of the first novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer and a film based on the series:*K-PAX **K-PAX – film*K-PAX II: On a Beam of Light *K-PAX III: Worlds of Prot...
, Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa (film)
Mona Lisa is a 1986 British film about a petty criminal who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The movie was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films...
, Freedomland
Freedomland (film)
Freedomland is a 2006 American crime drama-mystery film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore. Richard Price adapted his own novel, which touches on themes of covert racism. Joe Roth directed the film.-Plot:...
, and Marley & Me
Marley & Me (film)
Marley & Me is a 2008 American comedy-drama film directed by David Frankel. The screenplay by Scott Frank and Don Roos is based on the memoir of the same name by John Grogan...
.
He also appeared in the UK show Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
, appearing as Derek Newman, the father of nurse Donna Jackson
Donna Jackson
Donna Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actress Jaye Jacobs. She appeared in the programme from its sixth series in 2004, to its thirteenth in 2011. Donna entered the series as a staff nurse, characterised as a wild-child with a chaotic personal life...
. He voiced a part in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
animated episode Dreamland
Dreamland (Doctor Who)
Dreamland is the second animated Doctor Who serial to air on television...
. And in the In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight is an American dramatic television series on USA Network. The series revolves around Mary Shannon , a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program , more commonly known as the Federal Witness Protection Program...
episode Duplicate Bridge
Duplicate bridge
Duplicate bridge is the most widely used variation of contract bridge in club and tournament play. It is called duplicate because the same bridge deal is played at each table and scoring is based on relative performance...
as a man in Witness Protection
Witness protection
Witness protection is protection of a threatened witness or any person involved in the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during and after a trial, usually by police...
named Norman Baker/Norman Danzer. He played Nelson Mandela in the 2009 film, Endgame. In 2010, he read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a novella by Stephen King, from his collection Different Seasons . It has been hailed by critics as King's "greatest work", and "masterpiece". The novella was adapted for the screen in 1994 as The Shawshank Redemption, itself a lauded film, nominated for...
for BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
.
In the HBO drama series Treme
Treme (TV series)
Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
created by The Wire creator David Simon, he plays the role of Albert Lambreaux.
In September 2011, Peters appeared on stage in a Sheffield Crucible Theatre
Crucible Theatre
The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
production of Shakespeare's Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
, playing the title role
Othello (character)
Othello is a character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's origin is traced to the tale, "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor....
opposite his Wire co-star Dominic West
Dominic West
Dominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.-Film and TV:...
, who played the evil Iago
Iago
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
.
Personal life
Peters lives in London with his wife Penny and their third son, Max, who played the young Michael Jackson in the West End production of the musical Thriller – LiveThriller – Live
Thriller – Live is a two and a half hour concert celebrating the music of The Jackson 5 and the solo work of Michael Jackson. It had already been performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, and Scandinavia before opening at the Lyric Theatre, London on 2 January 2009...
, and is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris.
An earlier relationship produced two sons: Joe Jacobs
Joe Jacobs (actor)
Joe Jacobs is an English actor. Jacobs has appeared in The Bill, Holby City and is most famous for his role as PC Billy Jackson in the BBC police drama HolbyBlue....
, an actor, and Guppy, who died of a kidney tumor
Kidney tumour
Kidney tumours , also known as renal tumours, are tumours, or growths, on or in the kidney. These growths can be benign or malignant . They may be discovered on medical imaging incidentally Kidney tumours (or kidney tumors), also known as renal tumours, are tumours, or growths, on or in the kidney....
at the age of four in 1990.