by Matt Grobar | Deadline Hollywood
Tommy Lane, an actor and stuntman who appeared in such classic films as Shaft and Live and Let Die, died Monday at Fort Lauderdale’s Florida Medical Center after a long battle with COPD. He was 83.
His daughter, Kamala Lane, confirming his passing to Deadline.
Born on December 17, 1937, in Miami, Lane primarily was active as an actor from the 1960s through the 1990s. In Gordon Parks’ classic 1971 private eye thriller Shaft, he played gangster Bumpy Jonas’ (Moses Gun) hitman, Leroy, who memorably is dragged up steps and thrown out of a window by Richard Roundtree’s detective John Shaft. In Guy Hamilton’s 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die, starring Roger Moore, he portrayed Adam, a gangster and enforcer reporting to Yaphet Kotto’s Mr. Big and Julius Harris’ Tee Hee.
Lane’s film credits also include Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), action comedy Shamus starring Burt Reynolds (1973), the 1973 genre-bender Ganja & Hess, action drama The Pilot (1980), sci-fi horror pic Island Claws (1980), sports comedy Blue Skies Again (1983), thriller Eureka (1983), crime comedy Virtual Weapon (1997) and the 2007 comedy Sweat.
He contributed stunt work to Shaft and Ganja & Hess, as well as the 1972 film Come Back Charleston Blue, appearing on the TV side in Paul Wendkos’ TV movie The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, the 1960s NBC series Flipper and CBS’ private detective drama Simon & Simon.
Lane was also a jazz musician who frequently could be seen playing trumpet and flugelhorn at the Blue Note in NYC throughout the 1980s.
In addition to his daughter Kamala, Lane is survived by his wife, Raquel Bastias-Lane; six other children; a stepson; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.