American television I Love Lucy (1951) Some argue that
I Love Lucy (1951–1957) is premised on an interracial relationship. The program broadcast multiple instances of real-life husband and wife
Desi Arnaz, a Latino man, and
Lucille Ball, a woman of
European ancestry, kissing. However, despite Arnaz and Ball being frequently described as an "interracial couple", "Hispanic" is not always considered to be a
race, but it is an actual language. Arnaz is now considered by some to be a
white man of Cuban ancestry. The United States Census Bureau uses the
ethnonyms
Hispanic or Latino to refer to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race; the Census Bureau states, "People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race." As of the
1950 United States census, the most recent census held before
I Love Lucy went on the air, the Census Bureau's guidelines for enumerators did not specifically address how Cuban Americans should be classified by race, nor did the census ask a question about Hispanic or Latino ancestry. Both Arnaz and Ball were listed as white in that census.
The Ed Sullivan Show (1958) In
The Ed Sullivan Show S12, E10 aired 16 November 1958,
William Shatner, a Canada-born actor of
European Jewish ancestry, kisses
France Nuyen, originally from France, of
Asian ancestry. This was during a scene from the then current
Broadway production of
The World of Suzie Wong.
Sea Hunt (1959) In the
Sea Hunt episode "Proof of Guilt" aired 16 August 1959,
Lloyd Bridges and
Nobu McCarthy (née Atsumi) shared a kiss near the end of the episode.
Adventures in Paradise (1960) An episode of
Adventures in Paradise titled "The Big Surf", broadcast in 1960, featured two written kisses: one between actress
Pilar Seurat and actor Robert Sampson, and another with Seurat and
Gardner McKay.
I Spy (1966) An episode of
I Spy titled "The Tiger", broadcast on January 5, 1966, featured a scripted kiss between Eurasian actress
France Nuyen and
Robert Culp.
Star Trek: "Mirror, Mirror" – Kirk and Marlena (1967) Episode four of season two, "
Mirror, Mirror", which originally aired on October 6, 1967, featured a kiss between Eurasian actress
Barbara Luna and
William Shatner.
''Movin' with Nancy'' (1967) A December 1967 TV special, ''
Movin' with Nancy'', featured a kiss between Italian-American
Nancy Sinatra and African-American/Latin (mixed-race)
Sammy Davis Jr. Sinatra kissed Davis on the cheek.
Star Trek: "Plato's Stepchildren" – Kirk and Uhura (1968) A 1968 episode of
Star Trek, "
Plato's Stepchildren", which first aired on November 22, 1968, was until recently often referred to as the first interracial kiss on television. Although
William Shatner claimed in
Star Trek Memories that his lips did not touch those of African-American actress
Nichelle Nichols in the take that was ultimately aired, both actors later asserted that the kiss was real.
European television United Kingdom Unlike the situation in the United States, interracial kisses (European (White) and African/Caribbean (Black)/or Middle Eastern/Asian/Native) in British films and television shows have attracted little comment. The 1954 British-New Zealand film
The Seekers featured an interracial kiss between a
European (played by
Jack Hawkins) and a
Maori (played by German
Laya Raki). This film was later screened on television in the US (under the title
Land of Fury) and the UK, but the initial screening dates are unknown. For a time, the first interracial kiss on British television was understood to have occurred during an episode of the British
soap opera Emergency – Ward 10 in 1964. However, the 1955
BBC production of
Othello featured several kisses between
Gordon Heath and
Rosemary Harris. Furthermore, in November 2015, Granada's
Play of the Week,
You in Your Small Corner, was uncovered which was telecast in June 1962; that quickly led to the rediscovery of another play featuring the same young Jamaican actor,
Lloyd Reckord, called
Hot Summer Night, televised in Britain on 1 February 1959.
Hot Summer Night (1959) Lloyd Reckord and
Andrée Melly appeared in the ITV
Armchair Theatre adaptation of
Ted Willis' play
Hot Summer Night, broadcast on 1 February 1959.
British Film Institute panel moderator
Samira Ahmed was able in 2015 to announce the rediscovery of this on-screen kiss. The play was later adapted as the 1961 feature film
Flame in the Streets.
Probation Officer (1959) The second episode of the
ATV drama series
Probation Officer, broadcast on the ITV network on 21 September 1959, also features an interracial kiss. This again features Lloyd Reckord, on this occasion with actress Felicity Young, in a storyline concerning an interracial relationship disapproved of by both sets of parents.
You in Your Small Corner (1962) In June 1962, a live performance of the play
You in Your Small Corner by
Barry Reckord was broadcast on British television as part of the
Granada Television series
Play of the Week. The central theme of the play is a relationship between a young black intellectual and a white working-class girl. During the play, a kiss takes place between once more Lloyd Reckord and this time
Elizabeth MacLennan, and what has been described as an "explicit post-coital scene". Many years later,
You In Your Small Corner was rediscovered during preparations for a November 2015
British Film Institute panel discussion on "Race and Romance on TV" and was used in publicity for the event.
Emergency Ward 10 '', which was broadcast in July 1964. One of the earliest interracial kisses on television occurred in a July 1964 episode of British
soap opera Emergency Ward 10, during which characters Louise Mahler (portrayed by
Joan Hooley) and Giles Farmer (portrayed by John White) kissed. The scene in which Mahler and Farmer kissed was originally scripted to occur in Mahler's bedroom, but was rewritten so as to occur outdoors, due to concerns it would otherwise be too risqué (the earlier Lloyd Reckord plays had both been shown well after the 9pm adult-content
watershed). According to an issue of the
Daily Express published after the episode aired, "not a viewer rang-up to complain". In a 2015 interview, conducted prior to the discovery of the
You in Your Small Corner footage, Hooley noted that the historic importance of what had been known as the "first interracial kiss on television" had been inflated in popular memory:
The Netherlands (1959) The comedy TV show (1957-1959) is considered as the first TV series on Dutch television. Telecast on 5 January 1959, in the episode , US Black actor
Donald Jones sings a song, , to white Dutch actress Roeki Aronds. After the song, Jones kisses Aronds. At the time the kiss was not controversial and did not get much attention, but the song became a standard in Dutch music. Donald Jones, an actor, dancer and singer from New York (USA), was one of the first black stars in Dutch show business. Some Dutch TV series (with main white casting) added with Caribbean and Surinamese actors along Middle Eastern and Asian actors. ==References==