Yesterday on the news I heard that Roscoe Lee Browne passed away. Roscoe Lee played Saunders on SOAP, and had a dressing room right next door to mine for three years. I had many conversations with Roscoe. I fell like I know him about as well as any one. He was the very definition of "piss-elegant". That incredible voice and his elegant ways made him very unique. I remember asking him where he was from. He said, "Legend has it..." I laughed and I don't think he even finished the sentence.
We refered to Roscoe as "Queen of the Nile" even to his face, to which he would respond with a sly look from under his brow. Richard Pryor used to call him "humming bird". I never asked.
He could recite poetry from memory by the hour, and spontaneously write the dirtiest limericks that I have ever heard. He used to do poetry readings for ladies clubs. They loved him. He never had to prepare he just showed up and decided what he would recite on the spot.
It will be a long time before there is another like Roscoe Lee. Rest well my friend.
As you were,
Jay
1 comment:
I had a chance to meet him not too long ago when he came to the theatre (I believe it was Bridge and Tunnel). In fact, I heard his voice before I saw him and knew exactly who he was before I turned around. I remember many of his performances as a child and was always mesmerized by that voice.
For that brief moment I was in awe of his presence - you could feel the energy coming from him. Then I thought, how funny - he moves and looks exactly as I remembered him as if he had never aged. But then again, I was probably not "seeing" his physical presence. What a great soul and how lucky you are to have known him.
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