BERMUDIAN actor Earl Cameron has been named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's New Year Honours List for services to drama after a career spanning 70 years.

The 91-year-old actor, who now lives in Warwickshire, England, is set for a real-life meeting with Her Majesty – just two years after his role opposite Helen Mirren in the Oscar-winning film The Queen (see photo at right).

Mr. Cameron (pictured left), widely regarded as the first black actor to break the colour barrier in the UK film industry, told the Birmingham Post this week that he was looking forward to visiting Buckingham Palace to receive his award from the Queen.

He told the paper: "I played an artist who painted Helen Mirren's portrait in The Queen, so I have already had a trial run.

"It never occurred to me I would come up for any kind of award like this."

Mr. Cameron was born in Bermuda in 1917, and grew up on Angle Street, just yards away from the current site of the Liberty Theatre.

He joined the Merchant Navy as a young man and sailed mostly between New York and South America before the outbreak of World War Two diverted his ship to the UK.

Unable to get back to Bermuda without a passport, he took menial jobs to pay the bills.

Two years later, while working in the kitchen of a restaurant, he saw a play in the West End, Chu Chin Chow, a musical comedy based on the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

A few weeks later, a small part in the play opened up – and Mr. Cameron, who had friends in the production, gladly took the role.

The play ran until 1946, becoming the longest-running musical in the West End during its time.

Mr. Cameron's big break came in Pool of London, a 1951 film about a diamond robbery that, unusually for its time, featured a black actor in a leading role.

That first role, as a Jamaican sailor, sparked the beginning of a movie, theatre and TV career that has lasted almost seven decades.

Mr. Cameron's popularity on the big and small screen has seen him star with actors including Sean Connery in the Bond movie Thunderball, in which he played the Caribbean assistant Pinder. He starred alongside Richard Attenborough and his friend Sidney Poitier in the 1973 film A Warm December, a love story set in the English countryside.

The father-of-five has enjoyed success as a TV actor, with parts on cult shows Doctor Who, Dangerman and The Prisoner in the 1960s.

Mr. Cameron took a break from showbusiness in 1979 when he moved to the Solomon Islands, where he took an active part in the Baha'i religious community. He returned to the UK in 1994, and has made regular appearances on TV shows since then.

This year, he was seen on the hit UK hospital drama Casualty. His recent film work includes the role of fictional dictator Edward Zuwanie in the 2005 Nicole Kidman film The Interpreter.

Mr. Cameron spoke to his local newspaper in England, the Coventry Telegraph, on New Year's Eve, expressing his delight at being awarded a CBE – and his surprise at his Hollywood longevity.

"I am over the moon," he said. "I am amazed at the amount of work I've got through."

Among the accolades bestowed on Mr. Cameron during his long career include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bermuda Arts Council in 1999 and a retrospective by the prestigious National Film Theatre in London in 2002.

In 2007 he was presented with the Prospero Award for his distinguished body of work by the Bermuda International Film Festival.