Pioneering British actor Earl Cameron, who appeared in Doctor Who and the classic Bond movie Thunderball, has passed away at age 102.

Cameron, who was born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, then moved to the U.K in his early twenties, made history when he landed a lead role in 1951's Pool of London. Not only did he become one of the first Black actors to star in a British movie, but the film was the U.K.'s first to portray an interracial relationship.

He also starred in 1960's The Dark Man – a BBC TV drama about a Black taxi driver navigating racial prejudice in the U.K. – and made appearances in numerous popular British TV series including The Prisoner, Dixon of Dock Green, and Lovejoy.

In 1966, Cameron guest-starred as the astronaut Williams in a popular Doctor Who episode, "The Tenth Planet." According to Deadline, this made him the first Black man to portray an astronaut on screen. A year earlier, he'd appeared as Pinder, 007's contact in the Bahamas, in the Sean Connery-led Bond movie Thunderball.

In 2017, he gave an interview to The Guardian to mark his 100th birthday, saying modestly: "I never saw myself as a pioneer. It was only later, looking back, that it occurred to me that I was."

He also spoke about the constant obstacles he faced trying to build a career as a Black actor, saying: "Unless it was specified that this was a part for a Black actor, they would never consider a Black actor for the part. And they would never consider changing a white part to a Black part. So that was my problem. I got mostly small parts, and that was extremely frustrating – not just for me but for other Black actors. We had a very hard time getting worthwhile roles."

Cameron said in the same interview that he hadn't yet retired, and appeared more recently in the 2005 movie The Interpreter opposite Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, portraying an African dictator accused of war crimes. He also had smaller roles in 2006's The Queen – as a portrait artist painting Her Majesty – and in 2010's Inception.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009. On Twitter, former Doctor Who guest star Paterson Joseph hailed him as a "gentleman with the voice of god and the heart of a kindly prince."

https://twitter.com/ignatius_sancho/status/1279347600764919808?s=20

Earl Cameron is survived by his second wife, Barbara, and by his children and grandchildren. Rest in Peace.