François Clemmons: From Mozart to Mister Rogers

"I was the first black American to play a recurring role in all areas. Said Clemmons to Ophira Eisenberg, host of NPR Ask Me An Another at a recording at the Nantucket Festival. "I remember how much I wanted to see another black person." It was Rogers who spotted Clemmons at a choral performance and asked him to be on the show. "Sometimes it seemed easy to do the right thing," said Clemmons. "Other people made it so difficult to do something, but he did not do it."

Clemmons said he grew up poor, openly gay , and "the wrong side of the tracks", but was taken by Rogers, professionally and emotionally. "He adopted me, in the purest sense of the word, as a spiritual son," Clemmons said. Both had a close relationship, although Clemmons was initially worried about the prospect of playing a policeman on the show. He said that when he was a kid, he "had to deal with black men who were killed by white policemen". When Rogers asked him to play a policeman, Clemmons expressed an initial hesitation, but Rogers "convinced me to try to change the image of the police, so they were aids rather than bad guys. "

Having a father figure like Rogers meant a lot to Clemmons, as a gay black boy. "He was the first to say" I love you. "My dad did not say it, my father-in-law did not say it, and there were members of my family who said, "You can not be gay." This had a huge impact on me who [Fred] loved me despite these things. "

In addition to his tenure on Mister [19659009] Rogers & # 39; Neighborhood, Clemmons sang the professional opera. He won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1968 and received a Grammy for his participation in a recording of Porgy and Bess in 1976. For the game Ask Me Another by Clemmons, Eisenberg challenges him to understand famous operas based on nothing less than half-cooked piano covers by guest musician Julian Velard – but first, he serenaded the crowd with a Cappella rendition of "He has the whole world in his hands "

19659011] On the emotional capacity of children:

" Children feel anger, they are afraid, they have to deal with death, separation, divorce and children have also need someone to talk to about these things.

On Quiet Progressism by Fred Rogers:

"Fred had this way of doing these things without causing a big explosion, he just invited me to the program, to sing and to be part of his neighborhood … when I was with Fred, I felt black could be good! I could be mysel f! "

Heard on François Clemmons: From Mozart to Mister Rogers.

Copyright 2018 NPR. For more information, visit http://www.npr.org/?

Missing some content? Want to comment? Check the source: NPR

Copyright (c) 2018, NPR