Trailblazing Black actor Earl Cameron, who played supporting roles to entertainment icons such as James Bond and "Doctor Who," has died at 102.

Trailblazing British actor Earl Cameron, seen here outside of Buckingham palace with his CBE, died July 3, 2020.

Earl Cameron, who was one of the first Black actors to perform in mainstream British films and played supporting roles to enduring entertainment icons such as James Bond and the title character in "Doctor Who" before appearing in the U.N.

Cameron stumbled into acting as a way to earn money during World War II and kept at it with repertory theater roles and training from the granddaughter of Ira Aldridge, an American who became a renowned Shakespearean actor in England, according to Cameron's British Film Institute biography. .

Cameron was cast in one of the starring roles in "Pool of London," a 1951 crime noir movie that was the first British film to feature an interracial relationship.

Cameron worked steadily making movies throughout the 1950s, sometimes in stereotyped roles such as a witch doctor and a murderous rebel leader in British Kenya, and sometimes in roles designed to confound stereotypes, such as his portrayal of a doctor in "Simba," a 1955 film that also dealt with the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. .

During the 1950s and 1960s, he supplemented his film work with frequent British TV roles, including two episodes of "Doctor Who" in 1966. .

In 1972, Cameron got to work alongside another Bahama-born actor who broke barriers for Black film actors