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Obituaries

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 8, 2007

Calvin Lockhart, 72, a Bahamian-born actor who won acclaim for his roles as underworld figures in 1970s "blaxploitation" films, died March 29 of complications from a stroke, his wife, Jennifer Miles-Lockhart, said. His first big screen role was in the 1967 film Joanna, and he was praised for his work in the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem. He also appeared on the TV series Dynasty.

John Peyton, 62, a former Hawaiian official and federal prosecutor who also helped establish a new legal system for war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina, was fatally injured in a car crash in Africa last week, state officials said.

Jay Koch, 81, a Ronald Reagan look-alike who doubled as the former president for a quarter-century in movies and public appearances, died March 19. Mr. Koch, who perfected the Gipper's aw-shucks smile, portrayed Reagan in Back to the Future Part II and Hot Shots! Part Deux and was a fixture at special events at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Ian Tapson, 84, one of the last survivors of a team of World War II soldiers that planned a breakout from a German POW camp later immortalized in the 1963 film The Great Escape, died last weekend at a retirement complex in Port Alfred, South Africa. Mr. Tapson was not among those chosen to make the escape, but instead survived in the camp until its liberation, according to Wally Vandermeulen, chairman of the Port Alfred branch of the South Africa Air Force Association.

[Last modified April 8, 2007, 01:17:59]