Otis Young

Otis E Young July 4 1932 in Providence Rhode Island October 11 2001 was an AfricanAmerican actor He was only the second AfricanAmerican actor to costar in a television Western The Outcasts 19681969 with Don Murray the first being Raymond St Jacques who had costarred on the final season of Rawhide in 1965 as cattle drover Simon Blake Young played another memorable role as Jack Nicholsons shorepatrol partner in the 1973 comedydrama film The Last Detail Young one of 14 children joined the US Marine Corps at the age of 17 and served in the Korean War He then enrolled in acting classes at New York University School of Education where his classmate was the young Louis Gossett Jr He trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and worked offBroadway as an actor and writer in the early 1960s He appeared on Broadway in James Baldwins Blues for Mr Charlie with such notables as Diana Sands and Al Freeman Jr His first movie appearance was in Murder in Mississippi 1965 In 1983 Young earned his bachelors degree from L I F E Bible College in Los Angeles and became an ordained pastor eventually serving as senior pastor of Elim Foursquare Gospel Church in Rochester New York from 19861988 He taught acting classes at School Without Walls a collegelike alternative public high school in Rochester from 1987 through 1991 In 1989 he joined the faculty at Monroe Community College in Rochester he remained there as a Professor of Communications and head of the Drama Department until his retirement in 1999 Otis Young suffered a stroke in Los Angeles and died in 2001 He was survived by his second wife Barbara and his children Saudia Young Lovelady Young El Mahdi Young and Jemal Young Description above from the Wikipedia article Otis Young licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia