Booker T. Bradshaw (May 21, 1940^[1]– April 1, 2003) was an American record producer, film and TV actor, andMotown executive.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Bradshaw worked for his father, Booker T. Bradshaw Sr.,^[2] president of Virginia Mutual Life Insurance Company; a former member of the Richmond School Board and a trustee of Virginia Union and Virginia State.^[3] Bradshaw, disillusioned and working at his father's life insurance company, went on to study atHarvard to earn a degree in English. There he honed his acting skills, and met folk singer/musicianJoan Baez. In 1961, while a junior at Harvard, he applied his singing talents onThe Original Amateur Hour television show withTed Mack as a singer of folk songs, becoming a three-time winner, and participated in the national finals atMadison Square Garden. He graduated from Harvard in 1962 and had learned to speak three languages. Bradshaw then went on to play atCarnegie Hall, and in the early sixties he was given a full scholarship to study at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.^[4]

Bradshaw joinedMotown Records inDetroit,Michigan and became their International Manager. He was in charge ofThe Supremes andThe Temptations on their European tours. He ventured back to acting with John Ferald, school principal of The Royal Academy at the time, doing repertory work atOakland University outside of Detroit.

Among his many television and movie roles, he was cast as Dr. M'Benga in two episodes of the originalStar Trek series. He also acted inThe Mod Squad,Bracken's World, andThe F.B.I. TV series and the 1973blaxploitation filmCoffy. He was also an accomplished writer and wrote material for TV shows such asPlanet of the Apes,Get Christie Love! andColumbo.

Bradshaw had at least one child, daughter Alaiyo Bradshaw.

Bradshaw died from aheart attack inLos Angeles, California, on April 1, 2003, a month before his 63rd birthday.

• Booker Bradshaw atIMDb
• Booker Bradshaw atMemory Alpha

This biographical article related to television in the United States is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1940 births
• 2003 deaths
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Harvard University alumni
• Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century African-American male actors
• 21st-century African-American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American television biography stubs

• Accuracy disputes from May 2022
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• All stub articles