David McKnight, whose film resume included starring as the lead in the blaxploitation horror movie J.D.’s Revenge, as well as Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and The Five Heartbeats, died Sunday at age 87.
McKnight passed from cancer in Las Vegas, according to reports.
The actor was a TV staple in various character roles, appearing on Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The Incredible Hulk, Dynasty and Benson, among other shows.
In J.D.’s Revenge (1976), McKnight played a deceased New Orleans hustler who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and goes after the man who murdered him and his sister 30 years earlier.
McKnight was hired to play Uncle Ray in Townsend’s The Hollywood Shuffle, playing a singer turned barber who encourages Townsend’s Bobby Taylor to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
McKnight went on to portray Pastor Stone in the Townsend-directed The Five Heartbeats (1991) and was the...
McKnight passed from cancer in Las Vegas, according to reports.
The actor was a TV staple in various character roles, appearing on Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The Incredible Hulk, Dynasty and Benson, among other shows.
In J.D.’s Revenge (1976), McKnight played a deceased New Orleans hustler who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and goes after the man who murdered him and his sister 30 years earlier.
McKnight was hired to play Uncle Ray in Townsend’s The Hollywood Shuffle, playing a singer turned barber who encourages Townsend’s Bobby Taylor to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
McKnight went on to portray Pastor Stone in the Townsend-directed The Five Heartbeats (1991) and was the...
- 12/8/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
David McKnight, who portrayed the title character in the cult blaxploitation horror classic J.D.’s Revenge and appeared in Hollywood Shuffle and The Five Heartbeats for Robert Townsend, has died. He was 87.
McKnight died Sunday of cancer in Las Vegas, his friend and publicist Cynthia Busby told The Hollywood Reporter.
McKnight also showed up on dozens of TV shows, from Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The Incredible Hulk, Dynasty and Benson to Moonlighting, 227, Roc, L.A. Law and The District.
In the New Orleans-set J.D.’s Revenge (1976), directed by Arthur Marks, McKnight played a deceased hustler who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and goes after the man who murdered him and his sister 30 years earlier.
In a 2018 interview, McKnight said that he first met Townsend when the first-time feature filmmaker was putting together Hollywood Shuffle (1987) and offered him advice.
He was then hired to play Uncle Ray,...
McKnight died Sunday of cancer in Las Vegas, his friend and publicist Cynthia Busby told The Hollywood Reporter.
McKnight also showed up on dozens of TV shows, from Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The Incredible Hulk, Dynasty and Benson to Moonlighting, 227, Roc, L.A. Law and The District.
In the New Orleans-set J.D.’s Revenge (1976), directed by Arthur Marks, McKnight played a deceased hustler who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and goes after the man who murdered him and his sister 30 years earlier.
In a 2018 interview, McKnight said that he first met Townsend when the first-time feature filmmaker was putting together Hollywood Shuffle (1987) and offered him advice.
He was then hired to play Uncle Ray,...
- 12/7/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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