Merlin Santana & Lamont Bentley

TV notable Black Stars that left us far too soon.

By Gladys W. MuturiPublished 2 years ago • Updated 5 months ago • 9 min read

Merlin Santana and Lamont Bentley, two television black stars who left us far too soon in the 2000s. They both are actors that have starred in television and films. They both have careers in music. They both starred in the same sitcom show (one recurring and the other main cast) called Moesha until the 2000s struck the two men to their deaths. Merlin Santana was a child actor starring in the Cosby Show then later gained popularity on Moesha and the Steve Harvey show and Lamont was the same way then would gain a huge popularity when he starred on Moesha for six full seasons.

These are the stories of Merlin & Lamont.

Merlin

Merlin Santana was born in March 14, 1976 at Upper Manhattan, New York. Santana's parents were born in Dominican Republic until they came to US. According to his mother, Santana was born prematurely and almost died during birth. Throughout his childhood, Santana was living in the tough street life of New York City. Santana's mom pushed him in the acting world to keep him off the dangerous streets of New York.

Lamont

Artimus Lamont Gardison Bentley was born on October 25, 1973 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to his parents Loyce Bentley and Donald L. Gardison. Bentley and his sister grew up on Milwaukee's north side of town and attended Webster Middle School. When he was 12, Bentley would practice signing autographs believing he would be a star. Bentley's mother Loyce had dreams of becoming a singer. Bentley would dropout of high school and start to pursue his career.

Early Acting life

Santana started his career at an early age. He would appear in 15 commericals. At the age of nine, Merlin Santana made his first screen appearance as an extra in the film ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’ by Woody Allen in 1985. In 1991, he featured in a recurring role on ‘The Cosby Show’ as Stanley, the boyfriend of Rudy Huxtable when he was 15. His performance was admired and his acting abilities were recognized. In 1993, he was cast as Marcus Dixon in an American sitcom, ‘Getting By’, which was first aired on ABC and then on NBC. However, as it could not garner good ratings, it was canceled after a year.

Ruby (played by Keisha Knight Pulliam) and Stanley (played by Merlin Santana)in the Cosby show

Fun Fact: Actor Deon Richmond who portrays as Kenny, Rudy's friend and Stanley's enemy was cast as Darren, Kenny's brother on the Cosby Show.

Bentley began his career as a child actor appearing in television commercials and guest spots on various television series before landing a role on the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series South Central in 1994. His first feature film role came in the 1995 horror movie Tales from the Hood as Crazy K, a cold, nasty and angry gang member who likes to kill. If you watch the film, his performance was impressive and played the character well.

Bentley as Crazy K in Tales from the Hood

Their Time on Moesha

It all started off creating a tv sitcom focusing on African American typical teen girl and her upper-class black family in Los Angeles called Moesha. R&B singer Brandy Norwood who already appeared on Thea and has debuted her album wasn't fond of being on a TV show because at the time she was focused on her music career, she gave it a thought and decided to give it a try. Brandy was cast as Moesha Mitchell, Sheryl Lee Ralph was cast as Dee Mitchell, Moesha's stepmother, William Allen Young as Frank Mitchell, Moesha's father, and Marcus T. Paulk as Miles Mitchell, Moesha's little brother. After the film Tales from the Hood, Bentley landed the main role as Hakeem Campbell, Moesha's lifelong hungry loving friend on the show.

Hakeem Campbell (played by Lamont Bentley) and Moesha Mitchell (played by Brandy)

On the first episode, Santana stars and portrays as Ohagi, Moesha's first poetic boyfriend until he breaks her heart. He would later appear in 3 episodes on the show.

The show became the most-watched sitcom and garnered a wide variety of audiences.

New Sitcom for Santana

While he was on the show Moesha, Santana landed the role of Romeo Santana on another sitcom show called ‘The Steve Harvey Show’, which aired on The WB Television Network for six years. The show centers on a former 1970s R&B/funk singer who becomes a music teacher/vice principal at Booker T. Washington High School on Chicago's West Side. Steve forms a friendship with his students Romeo, Stanley "Bullethead" (played by William Lee Scott), and Lydia (played by former Nickelodeon star Lori Beth Denberg).

The show also stars comedian Cedric the Entertainer as Cedric, the high school coach and Steve's friend, Wendy Raquel Robinson as high school principal Regina "Piggy" Grier, Terri J. Vaughn as high school secretary Lovita Alizay Jenkins-Robinson and Cedric's girlfriend and Rapper The Lady of Rage as Coretta "The Ox" Cox, the school bully who has a crush on Romeo.

Stanley "Bullethead" (played by William Lee Scott) and Romeo Santana (played by Merlin Santana)

The show was a instant hit, Santana was nominated for ALMA Awards and the show has won some NAACP Image Awards.

Their Music Careers

Santana and Bentley have underrated rap careers though they weren't signed to any record labels. Santana hasn't released any music but a 2001 video footage of Santana freestyle rapping at a friends house.

So far, I haven't found any music from Merlin. However, Santana would be cast in musical drama film Play'd a hip hop alongside with Grammy winner Toni Braxton and Rashaan Nall. He get a chance to rap in the film but the film didn't release a soundtrack.

Other than acting, Bentley prefers to get in the music industry since his mother was singer. While on the show, his character Hakeem, his friend/Moesha's boyfriend Q (played by rapper Fredo Starr), Kim Parker (played by Countess Vaughn) formed a hip hop singing rap group called CPQ. During the show, Hakeem and Q would rap, Kim would sing while Niecy (played by Shar Jackson) was their backup dancer of the group and Moesha helped manage the group even though she tried to be in the group but Moe couldn't hold a tune.

If only UPN released a Moesha soundtrack feat the CPQ band with all their songs........

After Moesha ended, Bentley continued acting while pursuing a career as a rapper, In 2001, he appeared as C-Money in The Wash opposite Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. That same year, he portrayed Tupac Shakur in the television biopic Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story. He would later appear as Hakeem on the spinoff The Parkers.

Last Moments

Santana appeared on an episode of Half & Half which would be Merlin's last television appearance and starred in a comedy film The Blues which also be his final appearance in films.

According to the Final Cut, Santana was auditioning for the film Romeo & Juliet which starred Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Diane but didn't get the part.

Bentley voiced as Gary on the Proud Family in the "Hip Hop Helicopter" episode alongside with Moesha star Shar Jackson who voiced as Bethany, Dijonay's cool cousin. Bentley made one of his last onscreen appearances in Spike Lee's crime drama Sucker Free City.

Gary (voiced by Lamont Bentley)in the Proud Family Episode “Hip Hop Helicopter”

According to Bentley’s manager, Susan Ferris said the actor attended a screening in Westwood on Tuesday night of the short independent film “Shards,” in which he had a prominent part. He was excited over his role and believed his work would be rewarded with more opportunities but that will all change until January 18, 2005.

November 10, 2002

Before his death, Santana was with his friend and former child star Brandon Adams at a restaurant. At the restaurant, they meet with 15-year-old Monique "Mercedes" King, she sees Santana and tells him that she is a fan of him and starts to compliment each other. The two, Santana and King would later hook up at friends's house. King lied about her age and the two had a "passionate" one-night stand. King thought there was a relationship between them until Santana told her that he wanted nothing to do with her. Out of rage, Monique tells her male friends Damien Gates and Brandon Bynes that the actor raped her. The following night, Gates and Bynes waited for Santana and Adams to leave a house party. As soon as Adams and Santana got in their car, they saw a red laser light pointing at them. They see Gates pointing at them with the gun.

Shots were fired at them.

After they were shot, Adams managed to speed off and park in a safe place, that’s when he saw Santana had already been shot. Adams pulled over, gets out of his car, and dashed to get help for Santana. But it was too late. Police arrived at the scene. They see Santana already shot and his head slumped down. They checked his pulse but it was slim to none.

He was dead at the scene.

He was 26

January 18, 2005

Four years after Merlin's death.

Bentley was driving on Highway 118 near Simi Valley (which is 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles) when his vehicle went over an embankment, ejecting him (the sole occupant) from the vehicle and into traffic where five cars struck him. He died in the accident. An autopsy concluded that he died of multiple blunt-force injuries. The results revealed no drugs or alcohol in his system.

He was 31

Aftermath

The two served their time on television and films until they were gone.

Santana was buried at the Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Bentley was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills leaving behind his two daughters: Brazil and Artesia Bentley, and his mother Loyce.

No word or information on Bentley's family since his death. I tried to find his daughter's social media accounts but nothing. Hopefully, they will turn out and reveal themselves.

Damien Gates was convicted of the first-degree murder of Santana and the attempted murder of Adams and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 70 years in prison. Brandon Douglas Bynes, the other suspect who was with Gates during the shooting received a 23-year sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon.

King was guilty of second-degree murder and attempted murder but acquitted on two murder charges, receiving ten years, and was released but still showed no remorse for what happened to Merlin.

Monique "Mercedes" King screengrab via TROYCETV on YouTube

Santana leaves behind his daughter Melinda with his former girlfriend.

Merlin, his girlfriend, and his daughter Melinda

Melinda is now all grown up, she graduated from college and lives her private life. No word if she is following in her dad's footsteps.

Merlin’s brother has a YouTube channel with his girlfriend called “Annie & Ish”

He would make vlogs, mukbang videos and share stories, pictures of Merlin, and never before scene photos of Merlin. If you would to watch his YouTube video on Merlin👇👇👇👇👇

Sixteen years later, The cast of Moesha reunited on the daytime show The Real. The cast of Moesha also shares and reminisces about their good times with Lamont Bentley and Yvette Wilson, who also passed away in 2012 of cancer.