Booker Bradshaw

Booker Talmadge Bradshaw was an American actor, record producer, television writer, and Motown executive. Born in Richmond, Virginia, he studied English at Harvard, where he also developed his acting and sang folk songs. In 1961, while still an undergraduate, he won The Original Amateur Hour three times and competed in its national finals at Madison Square Garden. He later received a full scholarship to train at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. At Motown Records in Detroit he served as international manager and supervised European tours for The Supremes and The Temptations. He returned to acting through repertory work at Oakland University outside Detroit. On the original Star Trek, he appeared as Dr. M'Benga in a pair of episodes. Other television credits included The F.B.I., The Mod Squad, and Bracken's World, and he acted in the blaxploitation film Coffy (1973). He also wrote for Columbo, Get Christie Love!, and Planet of the Apes.