Remembering Harry Baird

Harry Baird was born on May 12, 1931 in Georgetown British Guiana. He was educated in England and Canada. His first film role was a boxer in 1954's "A Kid’s Life" and in 1955 he appeared on the London stage in the musical "Kismet". This was followed by roles in television, film and theater where he worked as an actor and stuntman. When roles for blacks started to dry up in England, he began to appear in Italian and French produced films. It was during the film "The Italian Job" (1969) that he developed a long standing friendship with actor Michael Caine. Harry’s career never developed into leading actor roles, but he was a dependable and well known character actor. His best role was probably in "The Story of the "Three-Day Pass" (1967) which was directed by Melvin Van Peebles and was the feature film directed by a black. Harry appeared in four Euro-westerns "Trinity and Sartana are Coming", "When Satan Grips the Colt" both in 1972, "Those Dirty Dogs’ (1973) and "Four of the Apocalypse" (1974). In the mid-1970s he was forced to abandon acting when he was diagnosed with glaucoma which eventually led to total blindness. Harry remained upbeat all of his life and never let his blindness get him down. He died in London, England on February 13, 2005 of cancer. Today we remember Harry Baird on what would have been his 80^th birthday.