'Gentleman actor' Nigel Scott to be laid to rest Tuesday

The funeral for veteran actor Nigel Scott will be held on Tuesday at 9am at St Mary’s RC Church, St James.

As covid19 restrictions are in place, a live stream will happen on YouTube at Service for Nigel Stephen Scott . Streamers are asked to log on by 8.45am.

Scott, 73, was a founding member of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop (TTW). He acted in several of its founder Derek Walcott’s plays, such as The Joker of Seville, Pantomime, The Odyssey and O Starry Starry Night.

Wendell Manwarren, 3canal member and actor, said he was honoured to share the stage with Scott for two Walcott plays. In 1994 Manwarren played Don Juan in the Joker of Seville. Scott had played the character decades earlier. When he and Manwarren shared the stage, Scott played Don Juan’s father.

“It was symbolic. I felt (it was) like the passing of the torch from one Don Juan to another,” Manwarren told Newsday on Monday.

They also acted together in O Starry Starry Night. The two shared living quarters together in England when preparing for the play's premiere.

“He was a gentleman actor, professional, caring, generous person…For many years he would be doing voiceovers for documentaries and ads. I was enamoured by his voice. He had a real good Trini accent too.”

A generation of TT theatre practitioners has passed, Manwarren said. People such as Scott, Errol Jones, Stanley Marshall, Claude Reid, Wilbert Holder and Derek Walcott – the man who brought them all together – had all died, but left a legacy of TT theatre practitioners.

“Can you imagine the production they are having up there?

"Acting was not their profession, but a lot of us were trying to do acting full time. We have schools go to schools to know how to act. The young people now have a different vision of theatre and performance.”

Manwarren described Scott as an astute businessman and man of the theatre.

Deputy chairman of the National Carnival Commission Davlin Thomas worked with Scott on multiple occasions, including the 2010 Dimanche Gras. Scott was also the treasurer of the National Drama Association (NDATT).

Thomas hired Scott as production manager because of his business acumen.

“There are people who could find money behind the columns of an Excel spreadsheet. There are people who can reach out and pull a dollar out of an Excel spreadsheet and he was one of those people who could create the magic in the numbers. Financially there was always a way,” Thomas said.

An online memorial is scheduled to take place on Monday night at 8pm.