Hat Tip To Bernie And Freddie
Can we please have a moment of silence for . . .
Veteran actor Bernie Hamilton and legendary jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.
Bernie Hamilton passed away Tuesday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering a cardiac arrest. His son, Raoul, was at his father's bedside when he died. He was 80. The versatile actor is best remembered as the hot-tempered police captain Harold Dobey on the popular 1970s cop series, Starsky and Hutch. The Los Angeles native also made cameos in numerous television shows, including That's My Mama, Sanford & Son, Twilight Zone and All in the Family. Bernie's son, Raoul, said his father's authoratitive character that he played on Starsky and Hutch was also how he presented himself in real life. "It was an extension of who he was as a real person," he says. "He was a self-made man. He comes from a family of five brothers and one sister from the east side of Los Angeles; they came from humble beginnings."
After Starsky and Hutch, Bernie ran an independent record label called Chocolate Snowman, producing R&B and gospel records. And according to his son, Bernie created a children's doll called the Chocolate Snowman that was manufactured in South Korea and sold at Toys "R" Us.
Bernie is survived by his son, daughter, Candy Hazarika Hamilton; his brothers Chico and Don; and two grandchildren.
Funeral services for Bernie Hamilton have ben set for Jan. 8 at Inglewood Cemetery Mortuary, in Inglewood, Calif.
On Dec. 29, legendary jazz trumpeter Freddie Dewayne Hubbard died at Sherman Oaks Hospital in California from complications he suffered after a heart attack before Thanksgiving Day.
