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- Although Tim Moore will forever be known as "The Kingfish" in the pioneering series The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), he was actually far better known for his career on the stage and as a comedian in vaudeville than he was for his film and television work. In fact, he had only made (as far as is known) three films before "Amos 'n' Andy", and he had to be coaxed out of retirement to play in that show.
Moore was born into a family of 15 children in Illinois. He left school at age 11 to join a traveling vaudeville act called "Cora Miskel and Her Gold Dust Twins", which was such a hit in the U.S. that it toured Europe. He had a long and successful career in vaudeville and another successful run on Broadway in "Blackbirds". He also did much work on radio. The "Amos 'n' Andy" TV series was a major hit and made Moore--or, rather, "The Kingfish"--a household word. After the show's run he retired again, except for an occasional appearance on TV talk shows to reminisce about the series. He died of tuberculosis in 1958.1887-1958 - Actor
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Clarence Muse was born on October 14, 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Clarence Edouard Muse. He was an actor, known for Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and The Black Stallion (1979). He was married to Irene Ena Kellman, Willabelle Burch West and Ophelia Belle Labertier. He died on October 13, 1979 in Perris, California, USA1889-1979- Actress
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Etta McDaniel was born on 1 December 1890 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for The Great Man's Lady (1941), What a Man! (1944) and The Pittsburgh Kid (1941). She died on 13 January 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1890-1946- Actor
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Ernest Whitman was born on 21 February 1893 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Green Pastures (1936), Road to Zanzibar (1941) and Maryland (1940). He died on 5 August 1954 in Hollywood, California, USA.1893-1954- Charles R. Moore was born on 23 April 1893 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Little Foxes (1941) and The Palm Beach Story (1942). He died on 20 July 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1893-1947
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After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katharine Hepburn, she makes it clear she has little use for her employers' pretentious status seeking. By The Mad Miss Manton (1938) she actually tells off her socialite employer Barbara Stanwyck and her snooty friends. This path extends into the greatest role of her career, Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Here she is, in a number of ways, superior to most of the white folk surrounding her. From that point her roles unfortunately descended, with her characters becoming more and more menial. She played on the "Amos and Andy" and Eddie Cantor radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s; the title in her own radio show "Beulah" (1947-51), and the same part on TV (Beulah (1950)). Her part in Gone with the Wind (1939) won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the first African American actress to win an Academy Award, it was presented to her by Fay Bainter at a segregated ceremony, she had to sit at the back away from the rest of the cast.1893-1952- Actor
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American actor, writer, director, and producer whose early pioneering work in African-American or "race" films was eclipsed in fame by his role as one of the title characters in the equally pioneering1950s sitcom The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951). A native of Vidalia, Louisiana, Williams broke into the theatre as a call boy for theatrical producer Oscar Hammerstein I, and learned comedy at the feet of Bert Williams, the great black vaudevillian. He moved to California following service in World War I, and began to land bit parts in films, particularly in so-called "race films," which were designed solely for black audiences. He wrote gags and later scripts for some of these films, and in 1940 was offered the opportunity to write and direct a film, The Blood of Jesus (1941), a religious drama which proved an enormous success in its limited arena. After more than a half dozen further films, Williams left the industry and co-founded the American Business and Industrial College in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Three years later, in 1950, a local radio station convinced Williams to audition for the television version of the hit radio show "Amos 'n Andy." Williams landed the role of Andy Brown, one of the leads, and the show proved enormously popular in original broadcast and in reruns. However, despite the near-unanimous sense that the comedy was superbly done, numerous racially-sensitive groups petitioned for its removal from the airways due to its presumed stereotypical depiction of black characters. Although the debate continues to this day, with positions pro and con taken on both sides of the color line, the show was removed from the air and despite its initial success and sterling comedy reputation, it has not been broadcast since in any regular form. Not until 2005 were home video presentations of the show publicly available. Williams managed only a few minor film and TV appearances following the cancellation of the show. He died of kidney failure at a Veterans Administration hospital in Los Angeles, on December 13, 1969, survived by his wife Eula. In 1983, fourteen years after his death, a number of his race films were discovered in a warehouse, and a reevaluation of the films and his work as writer and director was undertaken. A number of prominent critics and film scholars have praised Williams's work as primitive but pioneering and innovative examples of the filmmaking available to blacks in the mid-twentieth century.1893-1969- Actor
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A Corsicana native, Rex (Clifford) Ingram was the son of Mack and Mamie Ingram. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in medicine before launching a brilliant acting career which spanned 50 years. Ingram made his screen debut during the silent era in Tarzan of the Apes (1918). He won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of De Lawd in The Green Pastures (1936), Ingram also appeared on the Broadway stage and in television productions, bringing skill and dignity to every performance. Actor probably best remembered for his portrayal of Jim, the fugitive slave, opposite Mickey Rooney in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939). He died September 19, 1969 and was buried in California.1895-1969- Actor
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Bill Walker was born on 1 July 1896 in Pendleton, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Big Jake (1971), Tick, Tick, Tick (1970) and Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961). He was married to Peggy Cartwright. He died on 27 January 1992 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.1896-1992- Actress
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Amanda Randolph was born on 2 September 1896 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), The Danny Thomas Hour (1967) and The Danny Thomas Show (1953). She was married to Harry Hansberry. She died on 24 August 1967 in Duarte, California, USA.1896-1967- Actress
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The child of a teenage rape victim, Ethel Waters grew up in the slums of Philadelphia and neighboring cities, seldom living anywhere for more than a few weeks at a time. "No one raised me, " she recollected, "I just ran wild." She excelled not only at looking after herself, but also at singing and dancing; she began performing at church functions, and as a teenager was locally renowned for her "hip shimmy shake". In 1917 she made her debut on the black vaudeville circuit; billed as "Sweet Mama Stringbean" for her tall, lithe build, she broke through with her rendition of "St. Louis Blues", which Waters performed in a softer and subtler style than her rivals, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Beginning with her appearances in Harlem nightclubs in the late 1920s, then on the lucrative "white time" vaudeville circuit, she became one of America's most celebrated and highest-paid entertainers. At the Cotton Club, she introduced "Stormy Weather", composed for her by Harold Arlen: she wrote of her performance, "I was singing the story of my misery and confusion, the story of the wrongs and outrages done to me by people I had loved and trusted". Impressed by this performance, Irving Berlin wrote "Supper Time", a song about a lyncing, for Waters to perform in a Broadway revue. She later became the first African-American star of a national radio show. In middle age, first on Broadway and then in the movies, she successfully recast herself as a dramatic actress. Devoutly religious but famously difficult to get along with, Waters found few roles worthy of her talents in her later years.1896-1977- Actor
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This handsome, eloquent and highly charismatic actor became one of the foremost interpreters of Eugene O'Neill's plays and one of the most treasured names in song during the first half of the twentieth century. He also courted disdain and public controversy for most of his career as a staunch Cold War-era advocate for human rights, as well as his very vocal support for Joseph Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. While the backlash of his civil rights activities and left-wing ideology left him embittered and practically ruined his career, he remains today a durable symbol of racial pride and consciousness.
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 9, 1898, Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson and his four siblings (William, Benjamin, Reeve, Marian) lost their mother, a schoolteacher, in a fire while quite young (Paul was only six). Paul's father, a humble Presbyterian minister and former slave, raised the family singlehandedly and the young, impressionable boy grew up singing spirituals in his father's church. Paul was a natural athlete and the tall (6'3"), strapping high school fullback had no trouble earning a scholarship to prestigious Rutgers University in 1915 at age 17 -- becoming only the third member of his race to be admitted at the time. He excelled in football, baseball, basketball, and track and field, graduating as a four-letter man. He was also the holder of a Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year and was a selected member of their honorary society, Cap and Skull. Moreover, he was the class valedictorian and in his speech was already preaching idealism.
Paul subsequently played professional football to earn money while attending Columbia University's law school, and also took part in amateur dramatics. During this time he met and married Eslanda Cardozo Goode in 1921. She eventually became his personal assistant. Despite the fact that he was admitted to the New York bar, Paul's future as an actor was destined and he never did practice law. His wife persuaded him to play a role in "Simon the Cyrenian" at the Harlem YMCA in 1921. This was followed by his Broadway debut the following year in the short-lived play "Taboo", a drama set in Africa, which also went to London. As a result, he was asked to join the Provincetown Players, a Greenwich Village theater group that included in its membership playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill personally asked Paul to star in his plays "All God's Chillun Got Wings" and "The Emperor Jones" in 1924. The reaction from both critics and audiences alike was electrifying...an actor was born.
In 1925 Paul delivered his first singing recital and also made his film debut starring in Body and Soul (1925), a rather murky melodrama that nevertheless was ahead of its time in its depictions of black characters. Although Robeson played a scurrilous, corrupt clergyman who takes advantage of his own people, his dynamic personality managed to shine through. Radio and recordings helped spread his name across foreign waters. His resonant bass was a major highlight in the London production of "Show Boat" particularly with his powerful rendition of "Ol' Man River." He remained in London to play the role of Shakespeare's "Othello" in 1930 (at the time no U.S. company would hire him), and was again significant in a highly controversial production. Paul caused a slight stir by co-starring opposite a white actress, Peggy Ashcroft, who played Desdemona. Around this time Paul starred in the landmark British film Borderline (1930), a silent film that dealt strongly with racial themes, and then returned to the stage in the O'Neill play "The Hairy Ape" in 1931. The following year he appeared in a Broadway revival of "Show Boat" again as Joe. In the same production, the noted chanteuse Helen Morgan repeated her original 1927 performance as the half-caste role of Julie, but the white actress Tess Gardella played the role of Queenie in her customary blackface opposite Robeson.
Robeson spent most of his time singing and performing in England throughout the 1930s. He also was given the opportunity to recapture two of his greatest stage successes on film: The Emperor Jones (1933) and Show Boat (1936). In Britain he continued to film sporadically with Sanders of the River (1935), Song of Freedom (1936), King Solomon's Mines (1937), Dark Sands (1937) and The Tunnel (1940) in important roles that resisted demeaning stereotypes.
During the 1930s he also gravitated strongly towards economics and politics with a burgeoning interest in social activism. In 1934 he made the first of several trips to the Soviet Union and outwardly extolled the Soviet way of life and his belief that it lacked racial bias, despite the Holodomor and the later Rootless Cosmopolitan Campaign. He was a popular figure in Wales where he became personally involved in their civil rights affairs, notably the Welsh miners. Developing a marked leftist ideology, he continued to criticize the blatant discrimination he found so prevalent in America.
The 1940s was a mixture of performance triumphs and poignant, political upheavals. While his title run in the musical drama "John Henry" (1940), was short-lived, he earned widespread acclaim for his Broadway "Othello" in 1943 opposite José Ferrer as Iago and Uta Hagen as Desdemona. By this time, however, Robeson was being reviled by much of white America for his outspoken civil rights speeches against segregation and lynchings, particularly in the South. A founder of the Progressive Party, an independent political party, his outdoor concerts sometimes ignited violence and he was now a full-blown target for "Red Menace" agitators. In 1946 he denied under oath being a member of the Communist Party, but steadfastly refused to refute the accusations under subsequent probes. As a result, his passport was withdrawn and he became engaged in legal battles for nearly a decade in order to retrieve it. Adding fuel to the fire was his only son's (Paul Jr.) marriage to a white woman in 1949 and his being awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1952 (he was unable to receive it until 1958 when his passport was returned to him).
Essentially blacklisted, tainted press statements continued to hound him. He began performing less and less in America. Despite his growing scorn towards America, he never gave up his American citizenship although the anguish of it all led to a couple of suicide attempts, nervous breakdowns and a dependency on drugs. Europe was a different story. The people continued to hold him in high regard as an artist/concertist above reproach. He had a command of about 20 languages and wound up giving his last acting performance in "Othello" on foreign shores -- at Stratford-on-Avon in 1959.
While still performing in the 1960s, his health suddenly took a turn for the worse and he finally returned to the United States in 1963. His poet/wife Eslanda Robeson died of cancer two years later. Paul remained in poor health for pretty much the rest of his life. His last years were spent in Harlem in near-total isolation, denying all interviews and public correspondence, although he was honored for speaking out against apartheid in South Africa in 1978.
Paul died at age 77 of complications from a stroke. Among his many honors: he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995; he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998; was honored with a postage stamp during the "Black Heritage" series; and both a Cultural Center at Penn State University and a high school in Brooklyn bear his name. In 1995 his autobiography "Here I Stand" was published in England in 1958; his son, Paul Robeson Jr., also chronicled a book about his father, "Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey" in 2001.1898-1976- Actress
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Lillian Randolph was born on 14 December 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) and Magic (1978). She was married to Garcia Delano "Gossie" McKee and James Lott . She died on 12 September 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1898-1980- Oscar Polk was born on 25 December 1899 in Marianna, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), The Green Pastures (1936) and Reap the Wild Wind (1942). He was married to Ivy V. Polk. He died on 4 January 1949 in New York City, New York, USA.1899-1949
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Composer, songwriter, conductor, singer, and actor Jester Hairston was educated at Tufts University, Juilliard, and the University of the Pacific (hon. Mus.D.). He acted on radio and television besides on film, and played Leroy on the "Amos 'n Andy" radio series for 15 years. He directed the Federal Theatre Project and was assistant- conductor of the 'Hall Johnson Choir' in New York for 15 years and trained choirs for radio and Broadway musicals. He went to Hollywood in 1936, he sang and appeared with the Hall Johnson Choir in the film The Green Pastures (1936). Organizing his own choir in 1943, he arranged and conducted film background music and conducted choral groups in colleges and high schools, touring Europe for the State Department in 1961. He joined ASCAP in 1956 and wrote such popular-song compositions as "Mary's Boy Child," "Poor Man Lazarus," and many Gospel songs including "In Dat Great Gittin'-Up Mornin'," "Amen," and "Gossip, Gossip."1901-2000- Music Artist
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Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined the home's brass band. They played at socials, picnics and funerals for a small fee. At 18 he got a job in the Kid Ory Band in New Orleans. Four years later, in 1922, he went to Chicago, where he played second coronet in the Creole Jazz Band. He made his first recordings with that band in 1923. In 1929 Armstrong appeared on Broadway in "Hot Chocolates", in which he introduced Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin', his first popular song hit. He made a tour of Europe in 1932. During a command performance for King George V, he forgot he had been told that performers were not to refer to members of the royal family while playing for them. Just before picking up his trumpet for a really hot number, he announced: "This one's for you, Rex."1901-1971- Everett Brown was born on 1 January 1902 in Smith County, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), Danger Island (1931) and Tim Tyler's Luck (1937). He died on 14 October 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1902-1953
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Stepin Fetchit remains one of the most controversial movie actors in American history. While he was undoubtedly one of the most talented physical comedians ever to do his schtick on the Big Screen, achieving the rare status of being a character actor/supporting player who actually achieved superstar status in the 1930s (becoming a millionaire to boot), his characterization as a lazy, slow-witted, jive-talkin' "coon" offended African-Americans at the time he was a major attraction in motion pictures (primarily the 1930s) and still offends African-Americans in the 21st century, more than 50 years after he had faded from the screen. Yet some African-Americans claim him as the first Black superstar, and thus a trailblazer for others of his "race". The controversy over Stepin Fetchit remains alive to this day, with two biographies published about him in 2005.
Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, who was born May 30, 1902, as confirmed by the 1910 census, in Key West, Florida to West Indian immigrant parents. Sometime in his teens Perry became a comic performer. A literate and very intelligent man who wrote for the premier African-American newspaper "The Chicago Defender," Perry evolved a character called "The Laziest Man In the World" as part of a two-man vaudeville act that broke through to play the white circuits. Eventually, he went solo; "Stepin Fetchit" likely was the original name of the act covering both performers, as "Step 'n Fetchit," and he kept the name as a solo.
While some believe that his stage name is a contraction of "step and fetch it", implying a servile persona (the so-called "Tom") that is synonymous with degrading racial stereotypes in popular entertainment in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Perry claimed he got the name from a race horse. However, it's important to make the distinction that African-American cultural historians do (while at no time condoning Perry's career): rather than a servile Tom (named after Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom"), Stepin Fetchit was an evolution of a later construction, the "coon" who undermined his white oppressors by denying his labor and cooperation through an act of defiance that included the appearance of being lazy and stupid. Essential to the "coon" persona was talking in what to white ears is gibberish (at which Perry excelled), but which Black folk can understand--and which contains barbed insults to "The Man". What rankles so badly (since the Coon remains a stereotype that resonates in African-American culture) is that white audiences swallowed Perry's Stepin Fetchit act whole, as a true representation of a "Negro".
The "Coon" persona mitigated the low status accorded African-Americans by whites by feigning near-idiocy in order to frustrate whites by ironically fulfilling their low expectations (the "Tom," by contrast, is praised by whites for his good work and loyalty. A parallel racial caricaturization of black men by whites, the "buck," is the repository of their racial and sexual fears, and can still be seen in blaxploitation movies of the 1970s and, more recently, in the "gangsta" rapper). Perry used this mitigation stratagem when dealing with whites in real life, allegedly maintaining a coon persona while auditioning for a role in "In Old Kentucky" (1938), where he stayed in the Stepin Fetchit character before and after the audition. Often, while making movies in which he found the lines offensive, Perry would skip or mumble lines he did not like, pretending to be too stupid to comprehend the script.
The "Coon" stereotype existed long before Perry decided to adopt it (its prevalence as a defiance stratagem intensified after the gains that African-Americans had made in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era were rolled back by segregationist Jim Crow laws, when an "uppity" African-American could well wind up hanging from a tree at the end of a rope). However, he was such a hit with white audiences that his Stepin Fetchit persona popularized the "Coon" image to an unprecedented degree in the medium of film, and many stereotypical Black movie characters, including the child Stymie in the "Our Gang" comedy series, were based upon Stepin Fetchit to cash in on his popularity.
Perry reached the apex of his career co-starring with Will Rogers in several films, including John Fords Steamboat Round the Bend (1935). When viewed objectively today (without revulsion), Perry's Stepin Fetchit character can be seen as more than holding his own with the great Rogers, achieving some kind of inverse parity with his white "massa" through the sheer forcefulness of his personality. Rogers clearly is fond of Perry (if not Stepin Fetchit), although he is liable to denigrate the Stepin Fetchit character unmercifully. In a way, it provides a window on race relations in that Southern and other white Americans could experience fondness for black folk, but would "put them in their place" at any time, for any reason.
Stepin Fetchit became the first African-American actor to become a millionaire, but he mishandled his fortune through lavish overspending and was bankrupt by 1947. In the 1940s his career in mainstream "white" cinema was essentially over, and he crossed over into "race" films, movies made specifically for (and sometimes by) African-Americans, where he essentially played the same schtick. By 1960 he was a charity case in Chicago.
Perry had been denounced by the same civil rights leaders that eventually forced CBS to mothball the popular TV series The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), as they didn't want any stereotypes pandering to the inherent racism of whites while they were trying to obtain equality. Cast out and an exile in the 1960s, Perry was rehabilitated by heavyweight champion Cassius Clay--the symbol of African-American racial pride who had become Muhammad Ali--making him one of his entourage after Perry allegedly showed him a punch that Ali successfully used during a fight. Following Ali's example, Perry converted to the 'Honorable Elijiah Muhammad''s Lost-Found Nation of Islam (the so-called "Black Muslims"). He was saved.
Because of the degrading image Stepin Fetchit represents to many African-Americans, Perry's appearances in mainstream movies typically are cut out of the picture, regardless of the narrative logic. Most of his films have not been widely released on video. However, near the end of his life, Perry achieved redemption. He appeared in a bit at the beginning of the Moms Mabley comedy Amazing Grace (1974), in which he warned a white train conductor to not mistreat Moms. Later in the film, Mabley and her co-star Slappy White--two stalwart black entertainers of the "Chitlin' Circuit" whose characters in the film represent the pre-Black Power generation that reached maturity during the World War II era--have been humiliated by both the Black bourgeoisie and the new generation. With a haunting vocal by Perry on the soundtrack, a song about a young black man (obviously of another era) stealing "hair grease," the downcast Mabley and humiliated White walk down a street, stepping on a poster of Stepin Fetchit cast away in the street. It's a remarkable scene.
The film says that respect is due these people who did blaze the trail for a younger generation, at great cost to themselves (Moms' character, a widow, had lost her son during the war, a war in which African-American men were segregated from whites and suffered egregious discrimination, all the while enlisted in the fight against Adolf Hitler's racist Third Reich--whose racial laws had been modeled on the Jim Crow laws of the American South!).
And respect was duly paid.
The Hollywood chapter of the NAACP (whose national organization had made Perry its bete noire, along with "Amos 'n Andy") awarded him a Special Image Award in 1976 for his pioneering movie career that was rationalized as helping to open doors for blacks in the movie industry. Two years later he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry died on November 19, 1985.1902-1985- Actor
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James Baskett was born on February 16, 1904 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as James Franklin Baskett. He was an actor, known for Song of the South (1946), Revenge of the Zombies (1943) and Policy Man (1938). He was married to Margaret. He died on July 9, 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1904-1948- The son of a minstrel and circus tightrope walker, Eddie Anderson developed a gravel voice early in life which would become his trademark to fame. He joined his older brother Cornelius as members of "The Three Black Aces" during his vaudeville years, singing for pennies in the hotel lobby. He eventually moved his way up to the Roxy and Apollo theaters in New York, which led to the Los Angeles Cotton Club in the west.
He began to appear in films, typically in servile bits, his best being the featured role of "Noah" in The Green Pastures (1936). He continued in that vein until a chance pairing with comedy star Jack Benny on his radio program in 1937 put him on the map. He only had a bit part on Benny's Easter show as a Pullman porter, but his scratchy voice, superb timing and comic reaction to Benny's banter earned him a fixed spot. He then was heard as Benny's personal valet, Rochester Van Jones, and the role became so popular that he became billed as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
In between radio assignments, he found the time to appear in both film drama and comedies, including You Can't Take It with You (1938), Kentucky (1938), Jezebel (1938), and three with Benny - Man About Town (1939), Buck Benny Rides Again (1940) and Love Thy Neighbor (1940). After the films Brewster's Millions (1945) and The Show-Off (1946), Anderson concentrated on his partnership with Jack Benny, following him into television and working with him for a total of 23 years. He returned to the screen for It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) but ill health eventually forced him into retirement. He died of long-standing heart problems in 1977.1905-1977 - Actor
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Toones is one of the most "colorful" character faces in B-Westerns and cliffhangers. He appeared in over 200 films between 1928 and 1951; and during 1936 and 1947, Toones often worked under contract for Republic Pictures, appearing in about 40 of its films.
Toones first appeared as a porter in The Hurricane Express (1932), and was usually typecast as a porter, appearing in over 50 films in such a role. He also played a variety of other service-oriented or domestic worker roles such as stable grooms, janitors, elevator operators, valets, cooks, bellhops, doormen, butlers, and bartenders. Toones played a bootblack or shoeshine man in at least six of his movies, and Toones actually ran the shoeshine stand at Republic Studios. Like other actors of the time, i.e. Anna May Wong and Franklin Pangborn, Toones is a prime example of racial and social stereotyping in the Hollywood film industry.
His standard characterization was that of a middle-aged "colored" man with a high-pitched voice and childlike mannerisms. "Snowflake" was the stage name Toones was best known by, and he used this name as his credit as early as his third film, Shanghaied Love (1931). In "Shanghaied Love" and, likewise over 35 other films, "Snowflake" was also Toones' character name.
Toones acted in films such as Mississippi (1935), Hawk of the Wilderness (1938), and Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939) with Bruce Bennett and in many "B" westerns such as The Lawless Nineties (1936) with John Wayne. He also appeared in dozens of two-reels such as Columbia's Woman Haters (1934) with the Three Stooges, and had a bit role in Laurel and Hardy's classic feature Way Out West (1937). Toones is also a familiar face in four Preston Sturges comedies: Twentieth Century (1934), Remember the Night (1939), Christmas in July (1940), and The Palm Beach Story (1942).1906-1962- Actress
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Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, MO, in 1906 to Carrie McDonald, a laundress, and Eddie Carson, a musician. Her early life hinted at her future career. She first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis for nickels and dimes. Later she became a chorus girl on the St. Louis stage. At age 15 she married Pullman porter William Howard Baker, but left him when she ran away from St. Louis at age 17, feeling there was too much racial discrimination in the city. She eventually made her way to Paris, France. Her first job in Paris was in "La revue negre". Her next significant job was at the Folies Bergere, where she was a member of the club's all-black revue. It was there, in 1925, that she first performed her famous "banana dance". She quickly became a favorite of the French, and her fame grew, but she had many ups and downs during her career. Although popular in France, during the "Red Scare" era of the 1950s, she was falsely accused of being a Communist and informed that she was no longer welcome in the US (in 1937 she had renounced her American citizenship, utterly disgusted by the blatant and official racism against blacks, and became a French citizen).
In 1961 Josephine was awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest award. In the late 1960s she began having financial difficulties, and stopped performing in 1968. Grace Kelly, who by that time had married Prince Rainier of Monaco and was now known as Princess Grace of Monaco, offered her a home in Monaco when she learned of Josephine's financial problems. At the request of Princess Grace, Josephine performed at Monaco's summer ball in 1974 and was a great success. That same year she staged a week of performances in New York City and called the show "An Evening with Josephine Baker". She had just begun a Paris revue celebrating her half-century on the stage when on April 10, 1975, she was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma. She died without regaining consciousness. Her funeral was held in Paris, and she was buried in Monaco.1906-1975- Actor
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Dudley Dickerson was born on 27 November 1906 in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Hold That Lion! (1947), The Green Pastures (1936) and Vagabond Loafers (1949). He died on 23 September 1968 in Lynwood, California, USA.1906-1968- Actor
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Lee played Danny (opposite of Hilda Simms, who played Anna) in Anna Lucasta on Broadway in 1944. Anna Lucasta was the first non-black written play performed by an all black cast on Broadway. He became an actor after careers as a jockey, boxer and musician. Lee was a civil rights activist, following in the footsteps of Paul Robeson.1907-1952- Alvin Childress was born on 10 September 1907 in Meridian, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Anna Lucasta (1958) and Darktown Strutters (1975). He was married to Sophronia Elizabeth Graham and Alice Childress. He died on 19 April 1986 in Inglewood, California, USA.1907-1986
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Bandleader, songwriter ("Minnie the Moocher", "Are You Hep to That Jive?"), composer, singer, actor and author, educated at Crane College. While studying law, he sang with the band The Alabamians, and took over the group in 1928. He led The Missourians orchestra, then organized and led his own orchestra, playing at hotels, theaters and nightclubs throughout the US, and making many records. He joined the cast of the touring company of "Porgy and Bess", which performed across the USA and Europe between 1952 and 1954. When that ended, he founded a quartet. Joining ASCAP in 1942, he collaborated musically with Jack Palmer, Buck Ram, Andy Gibson, Clarence Gaskill, Irving Mills and Paul Mills . His other popular song compositions include "Lady With the Fan", "Zaz Zuh Zaz", "Chinese Rhythm", "Are You In Love With Me Again?", "That Man's Here Again", "Peck-A-Doodle-Doo", "I Like Music", "Rustle of Swing", "Three Swings and Out", "The Jumpin' Jive", "Boog It", "Come on with the Come-on", "Silly Old Moon", "Sunset", "Rhapsody in Rhumba", "Are You All Reet?", "Hi-De-Ho Man", "Levee Lullaby", "Let's Go, Joe", "Geechy Joe", and "Hot Air".1907-1994- Helen Martin was born on 23 July 1909 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), Death Wish (1974) and Bulworth (1998). She died on 25 March 2000 in Monterey, California, USA.1909-2000
- Robert Earl Jones was born on 3 February 1910 in Senatobia, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sting (1973), Sleepaway Camp (1983) and Witness (1985). He was married to Ruth Connolly, Jumelle P. Jones and Ruth Williams. He died on 7 September 2006 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.1910-2007
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Thelma McQueen attended public school in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from high school in Long Island, New York. She studied dance with Katherine Dunham, Geoffrey Holder, and Janet Collins. She danced with the Venezuela Jones Negro Youth Group. The "Butterfly" stage name, which does describe her constantly moving arms, actually derives from dancing the "Butterfly Ballet" in a 1935 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Her stage debut was in "Brown Sugar," directed by George Abbott for whom she did several other stage shows. In 1939 she appeared as the shop girls' assistant Lulu in The Women (1939) and in her most famous role, the irresponsible, whiny Prissy of Gone with the Wind (1939) ("Oh, Miss Scarlett, I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies").
Two other notable appearances among her string of silly maid parts were in Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) and Mildred Pierce (1945). From 1947 to 1951, she was a regular on the radio show "Beulah" and then in the TV version 1950-52.
In 1980, a Greyhound Bus Lines guard mistook her for a pickpocket and handled her roughly, throwing her against a bench and cracking several of her ribs. She sued for assault, and after several years of litigation, she was awarded $60,000. She chose to live very frugally on the money and retired to a small town outside Augusta, Georgia, where she lived in anonymity in a modest one-bedroom cottage.
On the night of Dec. 22, 1995, a fire broke out in her home, and she was found by firefighters lying on the sidewalk outside with severe burns over 70 percent of her body. She said her clothes caught fire while she was trying to light a kerosene heater in her cottage, which was destroyed by the fire. She was taken to Augusta Regional Medical Center, where she died at age 84.1911-1995- Actor
- Soundtrack
Scatman Crothers was born Benjamin Sherman Crothers on May 23, 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Songwriter ("Dearest One"), actor, composer, singer, comedian, and guitarist who, after high school, appeared in nightclubs, hotels, and films, and on television. He made many records, including his own compositions. He joined ASCAP in 1959, and his popular-song compositions also include "The Gal Looks Good", "Nobody Knows Why", "I Was There", "A Man's Gotta Eat", and "When, Oh When". Scatman Crothers died at age 76 of pneumonia and lung cancer at his home in Van Nuys, California on November 22, 1986.1910-1986- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Rosetta Olive Barton, Rosetta LeNoire was the goddaughter of famed tap dancer "Bojangles" Bill Robinson. She was in the landmark all-black version of "Macbeth," directed by Orson Welles in the 1930s. Former president Bill Clinton presented her with the National Medal of the Arts in 1999. Appeared in the movies Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), and the television series Family Matters (1989), in which she played the role of Estelle 'Mother' Winslow.1911-2002- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of the hard-working, unappreciated African-American actors of Hollywood's "Golden Era" who produced good work with what he was given. He starred alongside some of film's great comedians including the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy and three films with Shirley Temple. Best is sometimes confused with William "Pat" Best, a musician and writer of (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.. After a drug arrest ended his film career, he worked in television for a while before retiring to obscurity. He passed away at the Motion Picture Country Home and is buried in North Hollywood, California.
Best was one of the victims of the racist attitudes of the era, never given the opportunity to fully flex his comedic muscle beyond the stereotyped porter and janitor roles that dominated his career. Sadly he was also a victim of backlash for these same roles during the Civil Rights movement and it is hard to watch many of his films without cringing, despite his ability.1913-1962- Actor
- Soundtrack
Roy Glenn was born on 3 June 1914 in Pittsburg, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Lydia Bailey (1952). He was married to Pauline (Lilla) Fractious. He died on 12 March 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1914-1971- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
An athlete turned actor, Strode was a top-notch decathlete and a football star at UCLA. He became part of Hollywood lore after meeting director John Ford and becoming a part of the Ford "family," appearing in four Ford motion pictures. Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960)."1914-1994- African American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early 1950s, a time in which few black people were given an opportunity to act in major studio films. Fortunately Moore's roles began improving as Hollywood developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959 she received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Imitation of Life (1959), a glossy updating of a once controversial Fannie Hurst novel about racism. Within the next decade Hollywood underwent several sociological upheavals, and Juanita was one of the beneficiaries. She became a fixture in black-oriented films of the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in such films as Uptight (1968), Thomasine & Bushrod (1974) and Abby (1974). She also appeared in Walt Disney Pictures' The Kid (2000), and was in a total of more than 50 films. Moore retired in 2001 and passed away New Year's Day 2014 . She was 99.1914-2014
- Davis Roberts was born on 7 March 1917 in Mobile, Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Westworld (1973), Star Trek (1966) and What's Happening!! (1976). He died on 18 July 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.1917-1993
- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal style. Ella had extraordinary vocal skills from the time she was a teenager, and joined the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1935 when she was 16 years old. With an output of more than 200 albums, she was at her sophisticated best with the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, of George Gershwin, and of Cole Porter. Her 13 Grammy awards are more than any other jazz performer, and she won the Best Female Vocalist award three years in a row. Completely at home with up-tempo songs, her scat singing placed her jazz vocals with the finest jazz instrumentalists, and it was this magnificent voice that she brought to her film appearances. Her last few years, during which she had a bout with congestive heart failure and suffered bilateral amputation of her legs from complications of diabetes, were spent in seclusion.1917-1996- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order to find work as an actress and Lena was left in the care of her grandparents. When she was seven, her mother returned and the two traveled around the state which meant that Lena was enrolled in numerous schools. For a time she also attended schools in Florida, Georgia and Ohio. Later she returned to Brooklyn.
Lena quit school when she was 14 and got her first stage job at 16 dancing and later singing at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem, a renowned theater in which black performers played before white audiences immortalized in The Cotton Club (1984)). She was in good hands at the club, especially when people such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington took her under their wings and helped her over the rough spots. Before long, her talent resulted in her playing before packed houses.
If Lena had never made a movie, her music career would have been enough to have ensured her legendary status in the entertainment industry, but films were icing on the cake. After she made an appearance on Broadway, Hollywood came calling. At 21 years of age, Lena made her first film, The Duke Is Tops (1938). It would be four more years before she appeared in another, Panama Hattie (1942), playing a singer in a nightclub. By now Lena had signed with MGM but, unfortunately for her, the pictures were shot so that her scenes could be cut out when they were shown in the South since most theaters in the South refused to show films that portrayed blacks in anything other than subservient roles to whites. Most movie studios did not want to take a chance on losing that particular source of revenue. Lena did not want to appear in those kinds of stereotyped roles and who could blame her?
In 1943, MGM loaned Lena to 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Selina Rogers in the all-black musical Stormy Weather (1943), which did extremely well at the box office. Her rendition of the title song became a major hit on the musical charts. In 1943, she appeared in Cabin in the Sky (1943), regarded by many as one of the finest performances of her career. She played Georgia Brown opposite Ethel Waters and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson in the all black production. Rumors were rampant that she and Waters just did not get along well, although there was never any mention of the source of the alleged friction. However, that was not the only feud on that picture. Other cast members sniped at one another and it was a wonder the film was made at all. Regardless of the hostilities, the movie was released to very good reviews from the ever tough critics. It went a long way in showing the depth of the talent that existed among black performers in Hollywood, especially Lena.
Lena's musical career flourished, but her movie career stagnated. Minor roles in films such as Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), Words and Music (1948) and Mantan Messes Up (1946) did little to advance her film career, due mainly to the ingrained racist attitudes of the time. Even at the height of Lena's musical career, she was often denied rooms at the very hotels in which she performed because they would not let blacks stay there. After Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), Lena left films to concentrate on music and the stage. She returned in 1969 as Claire Quintana in Death of a Gunfighter (1969). Nine years later, she returned to the screen again in the all black musical The Wiz (1978) where she played Glinda the Good Witch. Although that was her last big-screen appearance, she stayed busy in television appearing in A Century of Women (1994) and That's Entertainment! III (1994).
Had it not been for the prevailing racial attitudes during the time when Lena was just starting her career, it's fair to say that it would have been much bigger and come much sooner. Even taking those factors into account, Lena Horne is still one of the most respected, talented and beautiful performers of all time.1917-2010- Actress
- Soundtrack
Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She made numerous guest appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of commercials for Old Navy stores with The Jeffersons (1975) co-star, Sherman Hemsley. She made several commercials for Nick-at-Nite as well when the cable channel premiered The Jeffersons (1975).1917-2006- Clarice Taylor was born on 20 September 1917 in Buckingham County, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for Play Misty for Me (1971), The Cosby Show (1984) and Smoke (1995). She was married to Maxwell Glanville. She died on 30 May 2011 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.1917-2011
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Ossie Davis was born on 18 December 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). He was married to Ruby Dee. He died on 4 February 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.1917-2005- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Nipsey Russell was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1918. He got his start in Rock and Roll Review and other music revues in the 1950s. In the 1960s Russell achieved his first major role as Officer Anderson in Car 54, Where Are You? (1961). After being on the show for a year, Russell was a mainstay on variety shows, appearing on Laugh-In, The Dean Martin Show (1965), and the Jackie Gleason Show, among many others. Russell also appeared on many small shows in the 1960s as an always unique personality who would liven up almost any program. As the 1970s approached, Nipsey Russell became a popular game show panelist, appearing on To Tell The Truth, Match Game PM (1975), and many others. Nipsey was known as television's poet laureate on such shows as the Tonight Show and many other popular talk shows of the day.
Nipsey's film roles were remarkably scarce, but he will always be remembered for his role of the Tin Man in the 1978 remake of the Wizard of Oz, The Wiz (1978). The movie was a box office failure, but since that time the movie has been considered a cult classic. But Russell's skill cannot be judged solely by his television and movie appearances. He was an accomplished actor and singer on stage and had a strong presence on Broadway for many years.1918-2005- Actor
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Prior to his illustrious Hollywood and television careers, Joe Seneca (né Joel McGhee) belonged to a top flight singing group - The Three Riffs - that worked the better supper clubs in New York City. He was also a fine songwriter and had a big hit with "Talk to Me" sung by Little Willie John.1919-1996- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and later Pastor of the First Baptist Church. At 12, he was playing the church organ. At age 14, he formed a 14 piece band called the Royal Dukes. Nat was a top flight sandlot baseball player at Wendell Phillips high school in Chicago.
His three brothers, Ike, Frankie, and Eddie Cole, also played the piano and sang professionally. Nat was an above-average football player in high school. His sister, Evelyn Cole, was a beautician in nearby Waukegan, Illinois. In 1939 he formed the King Cole Trio after his publicist put a silver tin-foiled crown on his head and proclaimed him "King". He later toured Europe and made a command performance before Queen Elizabeth II.
He had a highly-rated TV show in the 1950s but it was canceled (by Cole himself) as no companies could be found that were willing to sponsor the show. He was a big baseball fan and had a permanent box seat at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He met his wife Maria Cole (a big-band singer) at the Zanzibar nightclub in Los Angeles through Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson show. Her parents opposed her decision to marry Cole, claiming he was "too black". They married, nonetheless, in 1948, and had two daughters, Caroline and Natalie Cole. On April 10, 1956, at Birmingham, Alabama, he was attacked by six white men from a white supremacist group called the White Cizizens Council during a concert and sustained minor injuries to his back. Cole appeared in several movies, the last of which was Cat Ballou (1965), starring Lee Marvin.
Cole received 28 gold record awards for such hits as "Sweet Lorraine", "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962, "Too Young" in 1951, "Mona Lisa" in 1949 and Mel Tormé's "Christmas Song". His first recordings of the Christmas Song included the lyrics, "Reindeers really know how to fly" instead of "reindeer really know how to fly", a mistake later corrected by Capitol Records. He was also a composer and his song "Straighten Up and Fly Right" was sold for $50.00. A heavy smoker, he died of lung cancer.1919-1965- Beah Richards left her native Vicksburg, Mississippi, for New York City in 1950. She would not acquire a significant role on stage until 1955,when she appeared in the off-Broadway show "Take a Giant Step" convincingly portraying an 84-year-old grandmother without using theatrical makeup. In 1962 she appeared in writer James Baldwin's "The Amen Corner" directed by noted actor/director/activist Frank Silvera, who told Richards "Don't act, just be." She credited Silvera with helping her further develop the subtlety and quiet dignity that distinguished all of her performances.
A prolific actress, poet and playwright, her first authored play was "All's Well That Ends" that delved into the issues of racial segregation. Always ahead of her time, she defined herself as "Black" when the term "Negro" was the preferred ethnic/racial label of Black Americans. Richards would bring her salutary satisfaction with being "Black" and her immense acting talents to the role of the peacemaking mother in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Additionally, she appeared in "Purlie Victorious" by Ossie Davis and "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman.
In 1988, she won an Emmy Award for her performance in Frank's Place (1987). Although stricken with emphysema, she delivered a tour-de-force performance on the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997) in 2000; she received her second Emmy Award for this performance three days before her death in her native Vicksburg.1920-2000 - Actress
- Soundtrack
Best known for her role as Aunt Esther Anderson on "Sanford And Son", she appeared in many films including "Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood" (1996), "Friday" (1995), "The Legend of Dolemite" (1994), "West From North Goes South" (1993), "The Meteor Man" (1993), "CB4" (1993), "Shakes The Clown" (1991), "My Blue Heaven" (1990), "Mausoleum" (1983), "Goodbye Cruel World" (1982), "Zapped!" (1982) and "Stonestreet: Who Killed The Centerfold Maid" (1977). Page also appeared in many television series' in her career, "Redd Foxx, The E! True Hollywood Story," "Biography," "The Parent Hood," "The Sinbad Show," "Martin," "Family Matters," "Amen," "227," "Starsky And Hutch," "Different Strokes," "The Love Boat," "Redd Foxx," "B.A.D. Cats," and "Sanford And Son."1920-2002- Actress
- Soundtrack
Best known for the role of Florida Evans on the 1970s sitcoms Maude (1972) and Good Times (1974), African-American actress Esther Rolle proved to be as spirited and iron-willed off-camera as well. The gap-toothed actress with the gravelly voice was born in Pompano Beach, Florida, the 10th child of 18 born to Caribbean farming immigrants. Her first important work came with the Negro Ensemble Company and over the years would earn a solid careworn reputation in such theater plays as "The Blacks", "Blues for Mister Charlie", "The Amen Corner", "A Raisin in the Sun" and "A Member of the Wedding". Ironically, her father insisted she promise him that she would never become a servant or maid in real life. She didn't, and however Esther would have her biggest successes playing just those types of roles. She caught the attention of television producer Norman Lear while performing on stage who cast her in the Maude (1972) supporting role in 1972. Audiences loved her so much as the feisty domestic who stood her ground, and then some, against her volatile and liberal-minded employer Maude Findley (Bea Arthur), that Esther earned her own spin-off series with Good Times (1974). Compelled to fight racial stereotypes, she insisted before accepting the series that a strong father figure be central in the show (actor John Amos). And while she still played the role of a lower middle-class maid, the show's emphasis was to be on her home and family life, not her outside work. Still, Esther left the show for one season when she was unhappy about the negative role model perpetuated by Jimmie 'JJ' Walker's jive-talking character J.J., but later returned after the producers assured her that more responsibility would be taken. In other assignments, she won an Emmy Award for the television movie Summer of My German Soldier (1978) and gained further respect for her work in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) and for her film work in Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Rosewood (1997). Two of her sisters, Estelle Evans and Rosanna Carter, were also character actresses. Afflicted with diabetes, Esther's health failed in the 1990s and toward the end of her life she was on kidney dialysis. The actress, who was divorced and had no children, died nine days after her 78th birthday on November 17, 1998.1920-1998- Actor
- Soundtrack
He was a master class in cerebral eloquence and audience command...and although his dominant playing card in the realm of acting was quite serious and stately, nobody cut a more delightfully dry edge in sitcoms than this gentleman, whose calm yet blistering put-downs often eluded his lesser victims.
Acting titan Roscoe Lee Browne was born to a Baptist minister and his wife on May 2, 1922, in Woodbury, New Jersey. He attended Lincoln University, an historically black university in Pennsylvania until 1942, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he served in Italy with the Negro 92nd Infantry Division and organized the Division's track and field team. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1946, and studied French through Middlebury College's summer language program. He received his master's degree from Columbia University, then subsequently returned to Lincoln and taught French and comparative literature, seemingly destined to settle in completely until he heard a different calling.
Roscoe relished his first taste of adulation and admiration as a track star, competing internationally and winning the world championship in the 800-yard dash in 1951. He parlayed that attention into a job as a sales representative for a wine and liquor importer. In 1956, he abruptly decided to become an actor. And he did. With no training but a shrewd, innate sense of self, he boldly auditioned for, and won, the role of the Soothsayer in "Julius Caesar" the very next day at the newly-formed New York Shakespeare Festival. He never looked back and went on to perform with the company in productions of "The Taming of the Shrew", "Titus Andronicus", "Othello", "King Lear" (as the Fool), and "Troilus and Cressida".
Blessed with rich, mellifluous tones and an imposing, cultured air, Roscoe became a rare African-American fixture on the traditionally white classical stage. In 1961 he appeared notably with James Earl Jones in the original off-Broadway cast of Jean Genet's landmark play "The Blacks". Awards soon came his way -- the first in the form of an Obie only a few years later for his portrayal of a rebellious slave in "The Old Glory". Additionally, he received the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Award for both "The Dream on Monkey Mountain" (1970) and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" (1989). Roscoe found less successful ventures on 1960s Broadway, taking his first curtain call in "A Cool World" in 1960, which folded the next day. He graced a number of other short runs including "General Seegar" (1962), "Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright" (1962), "The Ballad of the Sade Cafe" (1964), "Danton's Death" (1965), and "A Hand Is on the Gate: An Evening of Negro Poetry and Folk Music" (1966), which he also wrote and directed. He did not return to Broadway until 1983 with the role of the singing Rev. J.D. Montgomery in Tommy Tune's smash musical "My One and Only" in which his number "Kicking the Clouds Away" proved to be one of many highlights. Roscoe returned only once more to Broadway, earning acclaim and a Tony nomination for his supporting performance in August Wilson's "Two Trains Running" (1992).
Although he made an isolated debut with The Connection (1961), he wouldn't appear regularly in films until the end of the decade with prominent parts in the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film, The Comedians (1967), Jules Dassin's Uptight (1968), Hitchcock's Topaz (1969) and, his most notable, The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970). Thereafter, he complimented a host of features, both comedic and dramatic, including Super Fly (1972) (and its sequel), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Logan's Run (1976), Legal Eagles (1986), The Mambo Kings (1992) and Dear God (1996)
Elsewhere, Roscoe's disdainful demeanor courted applause on all the top 70s sitcoms including "All in the Family", "Maude," "Sanford and Son", "Good Times" and "Barney Miller" (Emmy-nominated), and he played the splendidly sardonic role of Saunders, the Tate household butler, after replacing Robert Guillaume's popular "Benson" character on Soap (1977). In 1986 he won an Emmy Award for his guest appearance on The Cosby Show (1984). His trademark baritone lent authority and distinction to a number of documentaries, live-action fare, and animated films, as well as the spoken-word arena, with such symphony orchestras as the Boston Pops and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to his credit. A preeminent recitalist, he was known for committing hundreds of poems to memory. For many years he and actor Anthony Zerbe toured the U.S. with their presentation of "Behind the Broken Words", an evening of poetry and dramatic readings.
At the time of his death of cancer on April 11, 2007, the never-married octogenarian was still omnipresent, more heard than seen perhaps. Among his last works was his narrations of a Garfield film feature and the most recent movie spoof Epic Movie (2007).1922-2007- Actress
- Soundtrack
Theresa Merritt was born on 24 September 1922 in Newport News, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for Billy Madison (1995), The Wiz (1978) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). She was married to Benjamin Hines. She died on 12 June 1998 in The Bronx, New York, USA.1922-1998- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961).
She also starred in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Cat People (1982), Do the Right Thing (1989), and American Gangster (2007).
Her film debut was That Man of Mine (1946).
For her performance as Mahalee Lucas in American Gangster (2007), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. As of 2019, she stands as the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart who was 87 when nominated for her role in Titanic for the 70th Academy Awards, 1998.
Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91.1922-2014- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruby Dandridge (née Ruby Jean Butler), an entertainer, and Cyril H. Dandridge, a cabinet maker and minister. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister Vivian Dandridge began performing publicly, usually in black Baptist churches throughout the country. Her mother would often join her daughters on stage. As the depression worsened, Dorothy and her family picked up and moved to Los Angeles where they had hopes of finding better work, perhaps in film. Her first film was in the Marx Brothers comedy, A Day at the Races (1937). It was only a bit part but Dandridge hoped it would blossom into something better. She only appeared in another film in 1940, in Four Shall Die (1940).
Meanwhile, she dropped out of high school and became part of a musical trio which performed with the orchestra of Jimmie Lunceford. During the late 30s, she dated music composer Phil Moore, who was instrumental in launching her career as a nightclub singer and big band vocalist.
Her next few screen roles in the early 1940s tended to be small stereotypical roles of black girls or princesses - such as Bahama Passage (1941) and Drums of the Congo (1942), She was the singing star of the western themed all-black-cast "soundie" (short musical) Cow-Cow Boogie (1942) and appeared in movies that showcased her talents as actress and singer, like Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) as the vocalist of Count Basie's Band, and twice as the vocalist of Louis Armstrong's Band in Pillow to Post (1945) and Atlantic City (1944).
Those brought her headline acts in the nation's finest hotel nightclubs in New York, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas. She may have been allowed to sing in these fine hotels but, because of racism, she couldn't have a room in any of them. It was reported that one hotel drained its swimming pool to keep her from enjoying that amenity.
In 1954, she appeared in the all-black production of Carmen Jones (1954) in the title role. She was so superb in that picture that she garnered an Academy Award nomination but lost to Grace Kelly in The Country Girl (1954). She did not get another movie role until Tamango (1958), an Italian film. She did six more films, including, most notably, Island in the Sun (1957) and Porgy and Bess (1959). The last movie in which she would ever appear was The Murder Men (1962) (1961).
Dandridge faded quickly after that, due to an ill-considered marriage to Jack Dennison (her first husband was Harold Nicholas), poor investments, financial woes, and alcoholism.
She was found dead in her apartment at 8495 Fountain Avenue, West Hollywood, on September 8, 1965, aged 42, from barbiturate poisoning. She left $2.14 in her bank account, and a handwritten letter: "In case of my death - whoever discovers it - Don't remove anything I have on - scarf, gown, or underwear. Cremate me right away - if I have any money, furniture, give it to my mother, Ruby Dandridge - She will know what to do.". She was cremated and her ashes were interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
She was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6719 Hollywood Blvd. on January 18, 1983.1922-1965- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Redd Foxx began doing stand-up comedy on the infamous "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s and 1950s. Foxx was one of the premier "blue humor" comedians. Blue humor was very dirty, too dirty for white audiences. For years his party albums were not available in white record stores. In the 1960s his records became available, although marginally in white record stores, leading to minor comedy work on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show") and The Red Skelton Hour (1951), among other classic variety shows of the time. Foxx developed a fan base in the 1960s that led to increased notoriety. He received his own television series in 1972 called Sanford and Son (1972), which was a reworking of the British sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962). Foxx's character, Fred Sanford (was actually Foxx's brother's name), was a cranky old man who was set in his ways and would insult both friends and strangers at the drop of a hat. He ran a junkyard in Watts, a bad neighborhood in Los Angeles, with his son Lamont (played by Demond Wilson). The show broke down racial stereotypes and was a huge success, making Foxx and the show household names. Foxx fought a very public battle with the writers and producers of the show, claiming that they did not do enough to promote the black experience, and in general complained there were not enough black writers or producers in the entertainment industry. These highly publicized disputes led to the show faltering artistically, but not in the ratings. Foxx left the show in 1977 to accomplish his dream on ABC: his own variety show, which lasted less than a year. He also starred in the controversial film Norman... Is That You? (1976).
Foxx's trouble with the law and the Internal Revenue Service hampered his career in the early 1980s. He flopped yet again with the sitcom The Redd Foxx Show (1986) on ABC. He did, however, find success playing a ghost in the TV movie Ghost of a Chance (1987), with Dick Van Dyke. The late 1980s found Foxx on a rebound, as he starred with Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy in the popular Harlem Nights (1989), which showcased the three premiere black comedians of their respective generations. A whole new generation of comedians begin claiming Redd Foxx as a major influence on their careers, including Murphy and Pryor. Foxx looked like he was finding success 20 years after Sanford and Son (1972) with The Royal Family (1991). However, we will never know if the show would have been a success--while rehearsing for an episode, Foxx collapsed and was rushed to a hospital. He died in October of 1991. Redd Foxx will be remembered as a pioneering comedian who influenced generations of comedians and helped break down racial barriers in the the entertainment industry. His influence seems as strong as ever.1922-1991- Prior to breaking into films, Philadelphia native Julius Harris worked as a bouncer in New York City. It was due to his many associations with struggling actors, that on a dare, Harris auditioned for his first role, in the well-received picture Nothing But a Man (1964), in which he played a father in the South, alongside Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln. After, this, Harris' impressive physique and deep voice helped enable him to rack up numerous appearances in the then popular blaxploitation genre.
His strong appearance in supporting roles in such low-budget films as Shaft's Big Score! (1972), Super Fly (1972), and Black Caesar (1973), which helped springboard him into better quality productions. Harris scored a co-starring role in the first Roger Moore James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), in which his portrayal of the bald-headed, grinning villain "Tee Hee", with the menacing artificial arm, was one of the more iconic heavies of the entire franchise.
More work quickly followed for Harris, including NYPD "Inspector Daniels" in the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), King Kong (1976), and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). In addition to his film work, he was guest-starring in numerous TV shows, including Harry O (1973), Sanford and Son (1972), Cannon (1971), Good Times (1974), and Kojak (1973). Harris continued working throughout the 1980s in a mixture of different character roles, although the 1990s proved to be a leaner period for him.
Julius Harris passed away on October 17, 2004 from heart failure, at the age of 81. He was cremated and then interred in his hometown, and is survived by his daughter (Kimberly) and his son (Gideon).1923-2004 - Dynamic African American leading man and characters actor William Marshall trained in Grand Opera, Broadway and Shakespeare. In films from the 50s and 60s including: Lydia Bailey (1952), Something of Value (1957), To Trap a Spy (1964) and finally known for being in The Boston Strangler (1968) with Tony Curtis. Marshall really didn't hit it big until the "blaxplotation" era of the 70s. He starred in the contemporary vampire melodrama, Blacula (1972), and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973), and the Exorcist-type film, Abby (1974). From the 80s, Marshall was seen as the "King of Cartoons" on the Saturday morning TV kiddie show, Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986), a job that he accepted on behalf of his grandchildren. Marshall has also appeared in Maverick (1994) and Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996). Marshall retired from acting afterwards and died of Alzheimer's disease in June, 2003.1924-2003
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, New York City, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, who had come from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother Theodosia was a domestic worker and her her father William was a carpenter and painter. Tyson was discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony Magazine, and with her stunning looks she quickly rose to the top of the modeling industry. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway productions. She had small roles in feature films before she was cast as Portia in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Four years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her sensational performance in the critically-acclaimed film Sounder (1972). In 1974, she went on to portray a 110-year-old former slave in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which earned her two Emmy Awards. She also appeared in the television miniseries Roots (1977), King (1978), and A Woman Called Moses (1978). While Cicely has not appeared steadily onscreen because of her loyalty to solely portraying strong, positive images of Black women, she is definitely one of the most talented, beautiful actresses who ever graced stage or screen.1924-2021- Actress
- Soundtrack
With plenty of heart and soul, singer/actress Virginia Capers served up loads of music in an entertainment career that spanned several decades. The benevolent, plus-sized talent was born Eliza Virginia Capers on September 22, 1925, in South Carolina and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., before studying voice at Juilliard in Manhattan.
She began her career on the Yiddish stage in 1950. By happenstance, Virginia was introduced to band leader Abe Lyman who hired her for his radio program and for on-the-road tours. In the late 50s, she had made it to all the way to Broadway with productions of "Jamaica" (1957) and then "Saratoga" (1959) albeit in chorus/understudy roles. Playing older than she was, the 34-year-old went on to take over the role of Grandma Obeah in the "Jamaica" production.
Moving to TV and occasional film roles into the 1960's, Virginia found work on such TV programs as "Have Gun, Will Travel," "General Electric Theatre," "The Untouchables," "Daniel Boone," "Death Valley Days," "Judd for the Defense," "My Three Sons," "Marcus Welby," "Bracken's World," "Longstreet," "The Rookies," "Mannix" and a recurring role on Julia (1968). Infrequent movie work included minor roles in House of Women (1962), The Ride to Hangman's Tree (1967), The Lost Man (1969), Norwood (1970), The Great White Hope (1970), Big Jake (1971), Trouble Man (1972) and as Billie Holiday's mother in Lady Sings the Blues (1972) starring Diana Ross as the tragic jazz singer.
The singer reached the apex of her career on Broadway in 1974. Handed the role of her career as matriarch Lena Younger in "Raisin," the musical stage version of Lorraine Hansberry's classic drama "Raisin in the Sun," Virginia copped the Tony Award for "lead actress" and was given the honor to perform the part later in a straight dramatic version.
With this success, Virginia worked diligently in its aftermath to fight off rigid Hollywood stereotypes and, on occasion, played judges, nurses and other professional types. Just the same, she still found herself all too often typecast as poor, husband-less mothers or proud domestic help. Nevertheless, her nationwide recognition led to plentiful work on such TV dramas as "The Waltons," "Quincy," "Dynasty," "Highway to Heaven," "Murder, She Wrote," "St. Elsewhere," "Knot's Landing," "Party of Five," ER" and a recurring role on Downtown (1986), as well as the TV comedies "Mork & Mindy," "227," "The Golden Girls," "Evening Shade," "Married...with Children," and recurring roles on both The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) and The Hughleys (1998).
On the film front, Virginia had latter roles in the film The Toy (1982), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) (as Nurse Sparrow), Howard the Duck (1986), Backfire (1987), Pacific Palisades (1990), Beethoven's 2nd (1993), Dependent (1994) and Bad City Blues (1999).
Having long made her move from New York to Hollywood, Virginia went on to found in 1984 the Lafayette Players West, a performing arts repertory troupe that provided stage work for (primarily) black actors. She also received the National Black Theatre Festival Living Legend Award, the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award and the NAACP's Image Award for theatre excellence. The unmarried actress died complications from pneumonia on May 6, 2004. She was 78 and survived by a son and brother. At the time of her death, Virginia was in rehearsal for a tribute to Oscar-nominated character actress Juanita Moore.1925-2004- Actor
- Producer
- Music Department
Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the "greatest living entertainer in the world".
He was born in Harlem, Manhattan, the son of dancer Elvera Davis (née Sanchez) and vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr.. His father was African-American and his mother was of Cuban and African-American ancestry. Davis Jr. was known as someone who could do it all, sing, dance, play instruments, act, do stand-up and he was known for his self-deprecating humor; he once heard someone complaining about discrimination, and he said, "You got it easy. I'm a short, ugly, one-eyed, black Jew. What do you think it's like for me?" (he had converted to Judaism).
A short stint in the army opened his eyes to the evils of racism. A slight man, he was often beaten up by bigger white soldiers and given the dirtiest and most dangerous assignments by white officers simply because he was black. He helped break down racial barriers in show business in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in Las Vegas, where he often performed; when he started there in the early 1950s, he was not allowed to stay in the hotels he played in, as they refused to take blacks as customers. He also stirred up a large amount of controversy in the 1960s by openly dating, and ultimately marrying, blonde, blue-eyed, Swedish-born actress May Britt.
He starred in the Broadway musical "Golden Boy" in the 1960s. Initially a success, internal tensions, production problems and bad reviews--many of them directed at Davis for playing a role originally written for a white man resulted in its closing fairly quickly. His film and nightclub career were in full swing, however, and he became even more famous as one of the "Rat Pack", a group of free-wheeling entertainers that included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.
A chain smoker, Davis died from throat cancer at the age of 64. When he died, he was in debt. To pay for Davis' funeral, most of his memorabilia was sold off.1925-1990- Music Artist
- Actress
- Soundtrack
An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school to work in a Brooklyn factory. As a teenager, Kitt lived in friends' homes and in the subways. However, by the 1950s, she had sung and danced her way out of poverty and into the spotlight: performing with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe on a European tour, soloing at a Paris nightclub and becoming the toast of the Continent. Orson Welles called her "the most exciting girl in the world". She also spoke out on hard issues. She took over the role of Catwoman for the third and final season of the television series Batman (1966), replacing Julie Newmar. Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer in her home in Weston, Connecticut, on Christmas Day 2008.1927-2008- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal education and at the age of 15 was sent to Miami to live with his brother, in order to forestall a growing tendency toward delinquency. In the U.S., he experienced the racial chasm that divides the country, a great shock to a boy coming from a society with a majority of African descent.
At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. A brief stint in the Army as a worker at a veterans' hospital was followed by more menial jobs in Harlem. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so forcefully that Poitier dedicated the next six months to overcoming his accent and improving his performing skills. On his second try, he was accepted. Spotted in rehearsal by a casting agent, he won a bit part in the Broadway production of "Lysistrata", for which he earned good reviews. By the end of 1949, he was having to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance as a doctor treating a white bigot got him plenty of notice and led to more roles. Nevertheless, the roles were still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained. But seven years later, after turning down several projects he considered demeaning, Poitier got a number of roles that catapulted him into a category rarely if ever achieved by an African-American man of that time, that of leading man. One of these films, The Defiant Ones (1958), earned Poitier his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), the first African American to win for a leading role.
He remained active on stage and screen as well as in the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. His roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and To Sir, with Love (1967) were landmarks in helping to break down some social barriers between blacks and whites. Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He took on directing and producing chores in the 1970s, achieving success in both arenas.1927-2022- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Harold George Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927 in New York City. He was educated at the New York Dramatic Workshop. He grew up in Jamaica, British West Indies, and did folk-singing in nightclubs and theaters, and on television and records. His debut was at the Village Vanguard in New York. Also, he appeared in the Broadway revues "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" and "Three for Tonight". He owns his own music publishing firm and film production company. He won a Tony Award in 1953, a Donaldson Award in 1953-1954, a Show Business Award in 1954, a Diners' Club Award in 1955-1956, and an Emmy Award for "Tonight with Belafonte". He has made many records. Joining the ASCAP in 1960, his popular-music compositions include "Turn Around", "Shake That Little Foot" and "Glory Manger".1927-2023- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rudy Ray Moore was born on 17 March 1927 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Dolemite (1975), The Human Tornado (1976) and Disco Godfather (1979). He died on 19 October 2008 in Akron, Ohio, USA.1927-2008- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Born of African and West Indian ancestry on July 2, 1927 in New York City, Brock Peters set his sights on a show business career early on, at age ten. A product of NYC's famed Music and Arts High School, Peters initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs as he worked his way up from Harlem poverty. Landing a stage role in "Porgy and Bess" in 1949, he quit physical education studies at CCNY and went on tour with the acclaimed musical. His film debut came in Carmen Jones (1954), but he really began to make a name for himself - having dropped his real name, George Fisher, in 1953 - in such films as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and The L-Shaped Room (1962). He received a Tony Award nomination for his starring stint in Broadway's "Lost in the Stars" in 1973. He also appeared in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), two sequels to the popular Star Trek films. Brock Peters died at age 78 of pancreatic cancer on August 23, 2005.1927-2005- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Robert Peter Williams Guillaume was an actor from St. Louis, Missouri who was known for playing Rafiki from The Lion King, Benson DuBois from Soap and Benson, and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls. He had five children from two marriages. He passed away in October 24, 2017 due to prostate cancer complications.1927-2017- Bernie Hamilton was born on 12 June 1928 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Bucktown (1975), The Young One (1960) and Starsky and Hutch (1975). He was married to Maxine King. He died on 30 December 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1928-2008
- Roxie Roker was born on 28 August 1929 in Miami, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for The Jeffersons (1975), ABC Afterschool Specials (1972) and Fantasy Island (1977). She was married to Sy Kravitz. She died on 2 December 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1929-1995
- Actor
- Writer
Mel Stewart was born on 19 September 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Tabitha (1976), Bride of Re-Animator (1990) and Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983). He was married to Annie Dong. He died on 24 February 2002 in Pacifica, California, USA.1929-2002- Moses Gunn was born on 2 October 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Rollerball (1975) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986). He was married to Gwendolyn Mumma Landes. He died on 16 December 1993 in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.1929-1993
- Susie Garrett was born on 29 December 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Wicked Stepmother (1989), Punky Brewster (1984) and The Jeffersons (1975). She died on 24 May 2002 in Southfield, Michigan, USA.1929-2002
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Tall (6'3"), imposing actor Raymond St. Jacques, who appeared as both hero and villain in hundreds of roles, was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1930, but he and younger sister Barbara were raised in Depression-era New Haven after their parents' divorce. He started writing and performing in his own short plays in elementary school and developed a strong interest in acting after appearing in a production of "Othello".
A stint with the Air Force in 1952 during the Korean War temporarily interrupted his professional momentum, but he managed to arrange plays and entertain servicemen during his stay of duty. Upon his discharge, he refocused, auditioned and was accepted into both the Actor's Studio and Herbert Berghof's Institute while modeling, dish washing and working as a sales clerk at Bloomingdale's to make ends meet. At around this time, he changed his stage moniker from the very common name of Raymond Johnson to Ray Saint Jacques (later Raymond St. Jacques) to avoid confusion with other actors. St. Jacques went on to perform for the American Shakespearean Festival, Stratford Connecticut, and, in addition to acting and assistant directing, was relied upon to train other actors in the art of swordplay as he had grown to become an accomplished fencing master.
Raymond made his Broadway bow in the 1955 musical "Seventh Heaven" and appeared in various on- and off-Broadway productions including "The Blacks", "Night Life", "The Cool World" and "A Raisin in the Sun". He also continued to performed in the Bard's plays, including "Henry V", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Julius Caesar".
The actor started gracing films in mid-career, making his debut with Black Like Me (1964). His breakthrough role came with the otherwise tepidly-received The Comedians (1967) where he stole the thunder from under husband and wife Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This led to a series of black-oriented 'stud' roles in Uptight (1968), Change of Mind (1969), Cool Breeze (1972), and notably, If He Hollers, Let Him Go! (1968) (1968) in which he shared some torrid and controversial bed scenes with Barbara McNair that made the "Sex in the Cinema" pages of Playboy magazine. He also winningly played Coffin Ed Johnson alongside Godfrey Cambridge as Gravedigger Jones in the comedy action crimers Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and Come Back Charleston Blue (1972) and portrayed the part of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the biopic The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977).
St. Jacques made history as the first black actor to appear in a regular role on a western series, playing Simon Blake on Rawhide (1959). St. Jacques moved briefly into producing and directing with the film Book of Numbers (1973), which relayed the stories of various African-Americans during the late 1800s.
Raymond went on to appear as a guest in a number of popular programs including "Dr. Kildare," "Daktari," "I Spy," "The Virginian," "Daniel Boone," "The Green Hornet," "The Name of the Game," "McCloud," "The Rookies," "Police Story," "Little House on the Prairie," "Police Woman," "Quincy," "Hart to Hart," "Fantasy Island," "Airwolf," "Murder, She Wrote," "A Different World" and "MacGyver." He also had recurring roles on the nighttime soaper Falcon Crest (1981) and as a judge on Superior Court (1986). His final films included featured roles in The Wild Pair (1987), Glory (1989) (as Frederick Douglass), Voodoo Dawn (1990) and Timebomb (1991), the last two released posthumously.
A noted civil rights activist and lecturer both here and abroad on apartheid issues. St. Jacques died of lymphoma in 1990 at age 60.1930-1990- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actor
A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was catapulted to legendary status by the time he died in Beverly Hills at age 73.
Born on September 23, 1930, to Aretha and Baily Robinson, an impoverished Albany, Georgia, family that moved to Greenville, Florida while he was still an infant. It was not a cause for joy and celebration. His father soon abandoned the family and his baby brother, George Robinson, drowned in a freak washtub accident. Ray himself developed glaucoma at the age of five and within two years had lost his sight completely. A singer in a Baptist choir, he developed a love and feel for rhythms and studied music at the State School for Deaf and Blind Children, showing which brought out his talent and ear for playing various instruments, including the piano and clarinet.
An orphan by his early teens, Ray joined a country band at age 16 called The Florida Playboys. He moved to Seattle in 1948 where he and Southern guitarist Gossady McGee formed the McSon Trio. With an emphasis on easy-styled jazz, Ray also played in bebop sessions on the sly. He departed from the McSon Trio and signed with Los Angeles-based Swing Time Records, becoming the pianist for rhythm and blues great Lowell Fulson and his band. Atlantic Records eventually picked him up. Along the road he would add composer, writer and arranger to his formidable list of talents.
Ray's first R&B hit was "Confession Blues" in Los Angeles in 1949. In 1951, he had his first solo chart buster with "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand". His amazing versatility and raw, soulful delivery quickly caught on with audiences and helped put Atlantic Records on the map. Hits like "Mess Around", "Things I Used to Do", "A Fool for You", "I've Got a Woman", "Drown in My Own Tears", and especially "What'd I Say" in 1959, pushed gospel and R&B to a wider crossover audience. He made a move into the country music arena--unheard of for a black singer--in the 1960s, doing soulful spins on Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold tunes. In 1960, he left Atlantic and signed with ABC-Paramount. Under ABC-Paramount, hits poured out during this peak time with "I Can't Stop Loving You", "Hit the Road Jack", "Busted" and his beloved signature song "Georgia On My Mind".
His landmark 1962 album "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" brought a new swinging style to country music. From there, he traveled a mainstream route--from interpreting songs from The Beatles ("Eleanor Rigby") to appearing in "Diet Pepsi" ads ("You Got the Right One, Baby, Uh-huh!"). He also showed up sporadically in films, playing himself in the movie Ballad in Blue (1965) and guest-starring in The Blues Brothers (1980) with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. A television musical variety favorite with his trademark dark sunglasses and dry humor, he worked alongside such musical legends as Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand on their very special evenings of song.
It is hard to believe that with everything he accomplished, Ray also had to deal with a longstanding heroin problem. In the mid-1960s, he was arrested for possession of heroin and marijuana and revealed that he had been addicted for nearly two decades. By 1965, he had completely recovered. The man who lived life on the edge was divorced twice and had 12 children both in and outside his marriages.
At the time of his death from liver disease on June 10, 2004, he was working on a recording project of duets with such performers as Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Elton John and Norah Jones. This collaboration entitled "Genius Loves Company" led to an incisive win at the Grammy Awards--eight posthumous trophies including "Album of the Year" and "Record of the Year".
A few months after his death, the critically-acclaimed feature film biography Ray (2004) was released starring Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx.1930-2004- Actor
- Soundtrack
Noted for portraying characters older than his actual age, Whitman Mayo was in his early 40s in the early 1970s when he first played the sexagenarian "Grady" on "Sandford & Son" -- a role that popularized the expression "Good Goobily Goop!" Nearly thirty years later his "Grady" role had just about caught up with him in terms of age and, in terms of Americana, had assumed something of a cult status. In 1996, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" hosted a tongue-in-cheek "Where's Grady" search for the actor who so well played the part. Though this single role tended to typecast his acting and contributions to the profession, Whitman Mayo did not let it define him. In fact, his professional growth took him some distance from the Watts junkyard of the ABC sitcom. He rounded out his career teaching drama at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born and grew up in Harlem and Queens, N.Y., moving at 17 to Southern California with his family. He served in the army from 1951-53, then did tours of study at Chaffey College, Los Angeles City College, and UCLA. He began doing a little acting at this time, but nothing stuck. He drifted and liked to boast that he played serious volleyball in Mexico for a year. During these times in his life of not being fixed in a career, he also worked as a probation officer counseling young people, picked grapes, waited tables, and other things for the railroad and a dairy, and not necessarily in that order. In the late 1960s, he joined the New Lafayette Theater repertory company in New York City and began settling down in an acting career. His call to "Sanford & Son" came shortly thereafter when a friend from the New Lafayette group who was by that time writing for Norman Lear recommended Mayo for a part in a single episode. His portrayal caught on and he lasted through the entire duration of the show, even filling in for Redd Foxx when Foxx took a leave. Having a plethora of experience with the tentative in his life, Mayo viewed his continuing success on the series as fleeting and ventured into other trades to assure financial stability; in 1975, for instance, he opened a travel agency in Inglewood, California. In 1994, "burned out," as he said, on Los Angeles, he continued to ply his trade in acting, but moved to Fayetteville, Georgia.1930-2001- Ellen Holly is a retired Black American actress. She was best known for her part as Carla Benari Hall in "One Life to Live" which she played for more than 20 years but she she was more then a soap opera actress.
On Broadway, she showed her versatile acting talent in the various roles she played in "A Hand Is on the Gate", "Tiger Tiger Burning Bright", "Face of a Hero", "Taming of the Shrew", "Henry V", "Too Late the Phalarope", "MacBeth", "Funnyhouse of a Negro", "Camino Real", "The Cherry Orchard", and others. She appeared in a handful of films, starting with "Take a Giant Step".
Her autobiography was titled "One Life: An Autobiography of an African American Actress".1931-2023 - Actor
- Soundtrack
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). For several movie fans, he is probably best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (due to his contribution for the voice of the role, as the man in the Darth Vader suit was David Prowse, whose voice was dubbed because of his British West Country accent). In his brilliant course of memorable performances, among others, he has also appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) three times and played Mufasa both in The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019), while he returned too as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Ivan Dixon was a handsome, mustachioed African-American actor and director who carried a strong, serious nature about his solid frame. He initially earned attention in groundbreaking stage and film work with pronounced themes of social and racial relevance. He would become better known, however, for his ensemble playing in the nonsensical but popular WWII sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965). His character was a POW radio technician with the last name of Kinchloe, and the role, while heightening his visibility, did little to satisfy his creative needs. Overshadowed by the flashier posturings of stars Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and John Banner, Ivan eventually left the series after season five (of six), the only one of the original cast to do so. He was among the few African-American male actors in the 1960s, along with Bill Cosby and Greg Morris, to either star or co-star on a major TV series.
Born Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III on Monday, April 6, 1931, in New York's Harlem area, where his parents originally owned a grocery store, Ivan grew up in the South and as a youngster was headed towards a life of crime before he took a keen interest in acting. This helped him to get back on the straight and narrow, studying dramatics at Lincoln Academy, a black boarding school in Gaston County, North Carolina. He then graduated from North Carolina Central University (in Durham) with a degree in drama in 1954.
Ivan's Broadway debut occurred three years later in William Saroyan's "The Cave Dwellers", and in 1959 his career took a significant jump after earning the role of Joseph Asagai, the well-mannered Nigerian-born college student, in Lorraine Hansberry's landmark drama "A Raisin in the Sun". Starring Sidney Poitier, it was the first play written by a black woman that was produced on Broadway. He and Poitier became lifelong friends, and Ivan's early film career included providing stunt double assistance for Poitier in The Defiant Ones (1958).
Following minor film parts in the racially tinged Something of Value (1957) and Porgy and Bess (1959) (both of which starred Poitier), he and Poitier recreated their respective Broadway roles in the film version of A Raisin in the Sun (1961), which drew high marks all round. Ivan's most mesmerizing film role, however, came a few years later when he and renowned jazz singer Abbey Lincoln starred in the contemporary film drama Nothing But a Man (1964). Starring as a young, aimless railroad worker who gives up his job to marry a schoolteacher and minister's daughter (Lincoln), Ivan's character matures as he strives to build a noble, dignified life for the couple, who are living in the deeply prejudiced South. The film was hailed for its extraordinarily powerful portrayals of black characters and its stark, uncompromising script. The film, which was written by two white documentary filmmakers who spent time in the Deep South in the 1960s, was considered far ahead of its time. Dixon himself never found a comparable role in film again. During this time, he was cast in several TV dramas, with fine roles on "Perry Mason," "The Twilight Zone," "Laramie", "The Outer Limits" and several other series.
Following another strong but secondary showing as Poitier's brother in the film A Patch of Blue (1965), Dixon won the role of Kinchloe on Hogan's Heroes (1965). While shooting the series, he managed to squeeze in the title role in "The Final War of Olly Winter," a dramatic special that earned him his sole Emmy nomination in 1967. After he decided to leave Hogan's Heroes (1965) after five seasons, his acting work was limited. Active in the civil rights movement (he served as a president of Negro Actors for Action), he steadfastly refused to play roles that he felt were stereotypical. Instead, he segued into directing and was a noted success, helping hundreds of television productions during the '70s and '80s, including "Nichols," "The Waltons," "The Greatest American Hero," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum, P.I.," "Quincy" and "In the Heat of the Night."
Ivan also managed to direct films, including Trouble Man (1972) and the controversial crime drama The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), the story of the first black officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, who turns revolutionary. This blaxploitation-era movie did not do well upon initial release (the film's title being highly questionable) and was quickly pulled from theaters. It subsequently gained cult status.
Throughout his career, Ivan actively worked for better roles for himself and other black actors. Among the honors he received were four NAACP Image Awards, the National Black Theatre Award, and the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award from the Black American Cinema Society.
In his final years, Ivan battled kidney disease and died of a brain hemorrhage at age 76 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, Berlie Ray, whom he met while both were college theater students. Two of their four children, Ivan Nathaniel IV and N'Gai Christopher, predeceased him. His surviving children are Doris Nomathande Dixon and Alan Kimara; Doris has been a documentary filmmaker and was a one-time production assistant on the film Boyz n the Hood (1991). The complete life span of Ivan Dixon--April 6th, 1931, to Sunday, March 16, 2008--totaled 28,097 days, or 4,013 weeks and 6 days.1931-2008- Actress
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Armed with an acid dry wit and a full arsenal of sarcasm and sass, African-American character comedienne Marla Gibbs showed up on 1970s television with a bang in middle age (44). Landing the feisty maid role on the popular ground-breaking CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975), eventually led to her very own sitcom 227 (1985) a decade later and international celebrity. A divorced mother with three children (Angela Elayne Gibbs, Dorian Gibbs, Joseph Gibbs) at the time of her initial success, it was a job transfer from Detroit to Los Angeles, while working as a United Airlines reservation clerk, that set up this more-than-welcome surprise and change of destiny.
Born in Chicago on June 14, 1931, Marla attended Peters Business School (1950-1952) following high school and toiled for a time as a receptionist and switchboard operator in the Detroit area. Eventually, she secured work with United Airlines. After moving to Southern California on a transfer, Marla gave acting a try and initially studied at the Mafundi Institute and Watts Writers Workshop, located in the Watts area of L.A.
Bitten hard by the acting bug, Marla went on to appear in a number of local productions, including "Medea", "The Amen Corner" and "The Gingerbread Lady". After only a couple of minor film roles, including the blaxploitation film, Black Belt Jones (1974), she nabbed the role of Florence Johnston and television stardom.
On The Jeffersons (1975), the role of Florence, the maid, was initially set up as a mere one-shot guest role but Marla showed the character's potential. And, so it came to be that Florence Johnston became THE scene-stealing foil to Sherman Hemsley's equally mouthy, money-minded George Jefferson. Until the sitcom became a certified hit, Marla cautiously kept her job with the Airlines. However, with wisecracks and Emmy Award nominations (totaling 5) a plenty, Marla never really had to look back. The role of Florence was a natural for a spin-off series and it happened with the sitcom, Checking In (1981), in which the character becomes a housekeeper for a very swanky hotel. However, the sitcom was harmed by a writer's strike before it could gain a core audience. Fortunately for Marla, she was ushered right back into the Jefferson household following its quick demise (four episodes). Two months after the last "Jeffersons" episode aired in July 1985, 227 (1985) was included in that year's fall schedule.
Daughter Angela Elayne Gibbs produced an award-winning play by Christine Houston entitled "227", with Marla as the lead, at Marla's own local Crossroads Theatre, which the actress founded in 1981. The award-winning play was a solid hit and Marla wisely purchased the television rights. Once "The Jeffersons" was over, she pushed for "227" as a sitcom vehicle. Producer Norman Lear gave it the green light and Marla settled right back in for another popular series ride (for NBC), this time as resident gossip Mary Jenkins, whose demeanor was warmer and more approachable than the feisty Florence Johnson. This sitcom, which featured spitfire Jackée Harry as vampish neighbor Sandra Clark, ran for five years.
An eight-time NAACP Image Award winner, Marla has received several honors over the years, including Essence Woman of the Year. She has not carried a series since "227", but has been seen from time to time on other popular shows, including ER (1994), Cold Case (2003), Chappelle's Show (2003), Judging Amy (1999), Touched by an Angel (1994), The King of Queens (1998) and Dawson's Creek (1998). She has also had recurring roles on daytime (Passions (1999)) as well as prime-time (Pryor's Place (1984), The Hughleys (1998)) and gave a knowing portrayal as Natalie Cole's mother in the heart-warming television movie, Lily in Winter (1994).
In later years, Marla turned up again on the big screen with plucky roles in Up Against the Wall (1991), The Meteor Man (1993), Lost & Found (1999), Foolish (1999), Border to Border (1998), The Brothers (2001), and standout roles in The Visit (2000) and Stanley's Gig (2000).
Elsewhere, Marla's voice has been heard on the animated series 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997) and, in addition to acting, sang the theme song to the film Stanley's Gig (2000), "In the Memory of You", which will be included on a CD, entitled "Scenes In Jazz". Marla owned a jazz club for some time in South Central L.A. called "Marla's Memory Lane, a jazz and supper club that ran from 1981 to 1999. She released her own CD of music, "It's Never Too Late", in May 2006, and co-wrote with Ray Colcord, the theme song to her starring series "227".
Into the millennium, Marla suffered both personal and professional setbacks. Her older sister, Susie Garrett, who co-starred on the hit sitcom Punky Brewster (1984), died of cancer in 2002. A few years later, in 2006, Marla suffered a small aneurysm followed by a stroke. She recovered and made a gradual comeback as a guest on such TV shows as Lincoln Heights (2006), House of Payne (2006), Mr. Box Office (2012), Scandal (2012), Hot in Cleveland (2010), The Blexicans (2015), American Horror Story (2011), This Is Us (2016), Black-ish (2014), NCIS (2003), Bless This Mess (2019) and the revamped One Day at a Time (2017). At one point, she played the recurring role of Grandma Eddy on the comedy series The First Family (2012) which starred her old "227" castmate Jackée Harry. On stage, Marla appeared in such comedies as "Boeing, Boeing" and was featured in such comedy films as C'mon Man (2012), Madea's Witness Protection (2012), Grantham & Rose (2014), Lemon (2017), Please Stand By (2017), Love Jacked (2018) and She Ball (2020).- Actress
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Della began singing in her hometown of Detroit when she was 6 years old. As a teenager, she toured with gospel great Mahalia Jackson and, at the age of 18, she formed the Meditation Singers and became the first performer to take gospel music to the casinos of Las Vegas. She was a vocalist with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra and began making her own records. She was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Female Soloist in Gospel music in 1987. She lived in Los Angeles with her husband, producer Franklin Lett.1931-2017- Lincoln Kilpatrick was born on February 12, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was encouraged to pursue an acting career by legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Kilpatrick earned a degree in drama from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and got his first big break acting alongside Sidney Poitier in the hit Broadway play "A Raisin in the Sun." Lincoln subsequently appeared in the stage plays "Blues for Mr. Charlie," "The Slave," "Hallelujah Baby!," "Take a Giant Step," and "The Black" (he acted with Cicely Tyson and Louis Gossett Jr. in this latter play). Kilpatrick made his film debut as the ill-fated Detective Dave Foster in the gritty 1958 crime drama thriller Cop Hater (1958). His most memorable movie roles include the bitter Zachary in the funky end-of-the-world science fiction gem The Omega Man (1971), burnt-out priest Father Paul in Soylent Green (1973), Olympic athlete Woody Russo in Chosen Survivors (1974), crazed transvestite homosexual psycho Billy Most in Together Brothers (1974), terrific as venerable old felon Cresus in the excellent supernatural horror chiller Prison (1987), and wise trustee inmate Abraham in Stuart Gordon's exciting futuristic science fiction prison winner Fortress (1992). Among the TV shows Kilpatrick did guest spots on are Naked City (1958), Then Came Bronson (1969), Medical Center (1969), Ironside (1967), McCloud (1970), Mannix (1967), Harry O (1973), Baretta (1975), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), The Jeffersons (1975), The Greatest American Hero (1981), Hill Street Blues (1981), Trapper John, M.D. (1979), Frasier (1993), Melrose Place (1992), NYPD Blue (1993), and ER (1994), along with dozens of others. Moreover, Lincoln co-founded the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theatre Arts School in Hollywood, California in 1971 and holds the distinction of being the first black member of the Lincoln Center Repertory Company. He was married to his wife Helen Ferguson for 47 years. Kilpatrick's sons Erik Kilpatrick and Lincoln Kilpatrick Jr. are both actors, while his daughter Dacarla Kilpatrick is an actress, director and editor. Lincoln Kilpatrick died at age 72 from lung cancer on May 18, 2004.1932-2004
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Ja'Net DuBois was a multi-talented and diverse performer. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York and began her career on Broadway. She has appeared in various plays, including "Golden Boy" with Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr., and "A Raisin in the Sun". She moved onto TV roles, receiving a Peabody Award for a 1969 CBS children's movie J.T. (1969). She then appeared in a daytime serial, Love of Life (1951); she is the first African American actress to have a regular serial role.
She was best known for her role as the sexy, confident, gossipy "Willona Woods" on Good Times (1974). She composed and sang the theme song, "Movin' On Up", for another Norman Lear series, The Jeffersons (1975). She appeared in many films, including the blaxploitation parody, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), as a tough and loving mother. She also did voice-over work, for which she received two Emmys.
She co-founded the "Pan African Film & Arts Festival", which showcases global films about people of African descent and fine arts. She is a community activist whose DuBois Care Foundation's mission is to empower youth by supporting after-school programs. She was also a painter who regularly exhibited her work. She released a CD in 2008, "Hidden Treasures", which includes the well-known TV theme song, "Movin' On Up".1932-2020- Actor
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Melvin Van Peebles was born on 21 August 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Shining (1997), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Don't Play Us Cheap (1972). He was married to Maria Marx. He died on 21 September 2021 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.1932-2021- Actor
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Dick Gregory was born on 12 October 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Hot Chick (2002), The Leisure Seeker (2017) and Reno 911! (2003). He was married to Lillian Gregory. He died on 19 August 2017 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.1932-2017- Music Artist
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Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "Architect of Rock 'n' Roll", traveled in his early days with the legendary vaudeville star Spencer "Snake" Anthony. One of Richard's early bands had the young, then unknown singer James Brown (the Godfather of Soul), a fourteen-year-old keyboardist named Billy Preston, and the famous and legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. His first recording session took place at WGST in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; he was backed by a local band led by Billy Wright. This session produced a local hit called "Every Hour" which enjoyed heavy airplay on Atlanta's WERD radio station which was the first completely Black-owned radio station in the United States. Little Richard was backed up by his idol Billy Wright, once referred to him as the most fantastic entertainer he had ever seen. Indeed, it was Wright who used a brand of makeup called Pancake 31.
Little Richard admitted to copying Wright's penchant for heavy makeup and wild stage theatrics. With a public persona and personal life marked by sexual ambiguity, he would make his mark with later hits such as the suggestive "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly". Unbeknownst to many fans, Richard overcame a debilitating drug habit and eventually became an ordained minister. Beginning in the 1980s, he saw a resurgence in his popularity as he acquired small acting roles where he impressed fans, old and new, with his unique comedic timing. As versatile and ageless as ever, Little Richard continues to delight fans the world over with his extraordinary stage presence and flamboyant antics. Now inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the American Songwriters Hall of Fame, he remains one of the most popular entertainers in the world.1932-2020- Actress
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Mabel King is best-known for the role of Mama on the 1970's sitcom What's Happening!, but she also appeared in the films The Jerk with Steve Martin and The Wiz with Michael Jackson. Before What's Happening!, she portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in the Broadway version of The Wiz.1932-1999- Actress
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Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series.
As long as she could remember, she wanted to do nothing but sing, dance, act and write despite no one else in her family following any of those tracks; although her father could tap dance. He not only became mayor of their town, Robbins, IL, but also a magistrate. On stage, Nichelle was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as Best Actress of the Year; while on film she danced with Sammy Davis, Jr. in Porgy and Bess, and opposite James Garner in Mister Budwing (1965). In a complete changearound soon after the Star Trek television series came to an end, she played a blousey madam, then co-starred with Lynn Redgrave n Antony and Cleopatra. She was been married twice and had a son, Kyle Johnson, from her first marriage to a tap dancer.1932-2022- Actor
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Cambridge won a four-year scholarship to study medicine at Hofstra University but decided, instead, to become an actor, leaving college in his third year. He acted in many off-Broadway productions, winning the Village Voice's Obie Award in Jean Genet's "The Blacks"; and, on Broadway, he gained a Tony Award Nomination in "Purlie's Victorious". It was as a comedian that he broke into television, initially on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957) (aka "The Jack Paar Show"). Having previously had occasional parts, he established himself in films in the late sixties. He played both comic and straight roles but is likely remembered for such portrayals as that of the white bigot who wakes up one morning to find himself turned black in Watermelon Man (1970). His compulsive eating probably contributed to his untimely death at 43 on the set of the television film Victory at Entebbe (1976), in which he was to have played General Idi Amin.1933-1976- Music Artist
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James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986.
Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a then-only Rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World".
During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making, emphasizing stripped-down interlocking rhythms that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from pneumonia in 2006.
Brown recorded 17 singles that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that did not reach No. 1. Brown was inducted into the first class of the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013 as an artist and then in 2017 as a songwriter. He also received honors from several other institutions, including inductions into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, Brown is ranked No. 1 in The Top 500 Artists. He is ranked seventh on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.1933-2006- Janet MacLachlan was born on 27 August 1933 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Tick, Tick, Tick (1970) and Tightrope (1984). She died on 11 October 2010 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1933-2010
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Born in Cleveland, Morris came to Hollywood in the early 1960s. His acting experience at that time consisted of a few minor roles on the Seattle stage. He found work appearing on Television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and The Twilight Zone (1959) before being cast in Mission: Impossible (1966). Morris played quiet, efficient electronics expert Barney Collier from 1966-1973. After the show ended, Morris continued to appear in other Television series and a couple of Television movies. In 1979, he went to Las Vegas to film the television series Vega$ (1978) in which he played Lt. David Nelson. He liked the city so much he decided to stay. This series lasted 2 years. In 1981, Morris survived a serious road accident and did not reappear on television for years. In 1989, he appeared in a short-lived remake of Mission: Impossible (1988). In 1990, he was diagnosed with cancer.1933-1996- Actor
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Rawls was born on 1st December 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. His father abandoned his family and Lou was raised by his grandmother. His first meeting with music was when he was seven years old, in a Baptist church choir. He was mostly influenced by the Chicago Regal theatre where he had the opportunity to see the best in black entertainment. Billy Eckstine and Arthur Prysock were only two of the best that Lou saw. He and classmate, Sam Cooke, would harmonize in the school lavatory. He graduated from Dunbar Tech. School and joined the touring gospel singing group, the Pilgrim Travelers. He left the group in 1956 and joined the US Army and became a Sergeant with the Screaming Eagle Paratroopers. In 1958, he was involved in a serious auto accident that killed one and Rawls was pronounced dead on on the way to the hospital. Lou remained in a coma for over five days and suffered a memory loss for several months. Sam Cooke was also in the automobile and was left uninjured. Rawls was first noticed by Capitol Records producer Nick Benet after noticing his four octave range while performing at a Pandora's Los Angeles coffee shop. He went on to perform at a number of LA clubs and later made his debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 1959 with Dick Clark. He went solo in 1964 and has won four Grammys. In the mid 70s, he joined the Anheuser Busch Brewery as a corporate spokesman. Since 1980, he has presented a series of world wide concerts for American military bases that were co-sponsored by Anheuser Busch, the USO, and the US Dept. Of Defense. During Christmas of 1983, he toured US bases in the Phillipines, Korea and Japan. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for black colleges and, every year, he sponsors a celebrity golf tournament in LA to raise money for the United Negro College Fund. South Wentworth Street in Chicago was renamed Lou Rawls Drive in his honor. The talented Rawls is also the singing voice of the animated fickle feline "Garfield".1933-2006- Writer
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- Producer
Flip Wilson was born on 8 December 1933 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Flip (1970), The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979) and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). He was married to Cookie Mackenzie and Lovenia Patricia (Peaches) Wilson. He died on 25 November 1998 in Malibu, California, USA.1933-1998- Actor
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Al Freeman, Jr. was an actor and director who was the first African American to win a Daytime Emmy Award for acting. His most famous role was that of Police Captain Ed Hall in the soap opera One Life to Live (1968), which brought him the Emmy in 1979. He was a regular on the soap from 1972 through 1987, and appeared off and on as Captain Hall from 1988 through 2000. He received three additional Emmy nominations playing the role in 1983, '86 and '87. Freeman also was the first African American to direct a TV soap opera, helming "One Life to Live" episodes.
Born on March 21, 1934 in San Antonio, Texas, he was raised primarily by his father, an actor and jazz musician, after his parents divorced. Al Freeman father and son left Texas, moving to Cleveland, Ohio. After studying drama at Los Angeles City College, Freeman fils moved to New York City to act in the theater, making his Broadway debut in Ketti Frings's "The Long Dream" in 1960, a flop that closed after five performances. He had a major success playing the lead in James Baldwin's play "Blues for Mister Charlie" in 1964. In 1970, he appeared in "Look to the Lilies" on Broadway, a musical version of the 1963 movie Lilies of the Field (1963), playing the part of Homer Smith, the role that brought Sidney Poitier an Oscar. Despite a prestigious production team that included director Joshua Logan, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn, the show was a flop.
Freeman made his reputation primarily in television. He debuted as a television actor in the series Suspicion (1957) in 1958, and his soap opera debut came in 1967 in The Edge of Night (1956). He was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for My Sweet Charlie (1970) and for Roots: The Next Generations (1979), in which he played Malcolm X.
In 1958, Freeman made his movie debut in an uncredited role in the Glenn Ford WWII picture _Torpedo Run (1958)_ and first received billing in the 1960 gang war B-movie potboiler This Rebel Breed (1960). His most memorable role was the lead in Amiri Baraka's Dutchman (1966) opposite Shirley Knight, who was named Best Actress at the 1967 Venice Film Festival. Freeman won the N.A.A.C.P. Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for playing Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992).
Freeman was a professor in the drama department of Howard University. When he died on August 9, 2012, in Washington, D.C. at the age of 78, he had established himself as a legend in the African American arts community.1934-2012- Actor
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Excellent, prolific and versatile character actor Robert DoQui was born in 1934 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He attended Langston University on a music scholarship and was a member of the popular singing group, "The Langstonaires". Following a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force, DoQui went to New York to pursue a career in show business. He began appearing in films and TV shows in the mid 60s and soon amassed a long, diverse and impressive list of credits. DoQui frequently portrayed tough, hard-nosed, say-it-like-you-see-it characters with a great deal of fiery brio and steely conviction. Arguably best-known as the huffy, no-nonsense "Sergeant Warren Reed" in all three Robocop films, DoQui's other noteworthy film roles include the flamboyant pimp, "King George", in Jack Hill's terrifically trashy blaxploitation classic Coffy (1973), a former slave in the charming Disney outing Treasure of Matecumbe (1976), a fanatical religious cult member in the outrageously sleazy Guyana: Cult of the Damned (1979) and a hot-tempered short order cook in Miracle Mile (1988). Moreover, DoQui appeared in three movies for acclaimed director Robert Altman: Nashville (1975), Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) and Short Cuts (1993). He supplied the voice of "Pablo Robertson" on the animated Harlem Globe Trotters (1970) TV series.
Among the many television programs DoQui has done guest spots on are NYPD Blue (1993), as a Klingon on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Picket Fences (1992), Starman (1986), Webster (1983), The Fall Guy (1981), Punky Brewster (1984), Hill Street Blues (1981), The Jeffersons (1975), Maude (1972), The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Sanford and Son (1972) Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) Mod Squad (1968), The Fugitive (1963), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), I Dream of Jeannie (1965) and The Outer Limits (1963).
In addition to his substantial acting credits, DoQui served ten years on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild, during which time he encouraged both women and minority groups to participate more in the media.1934-2008- Actor
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Bill Cobbs was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where his parents were hard-working people, who instilled in him a sense of self-reliance and humility. As an amateur actor in the city's Karamu House Theater, he starred in the Ossie Davis play "Purlie Victorious". Cobbs was an Air Force radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at IBM and sold cars in Cleveland. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. There he turned down a job in the NBC sales department in order to have time for auditions. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment, selling toys, and performing odd jobs. His first professional acting role was in "Ride a Black Horse" at the Negro Ensemble Company. From there, he appeared in small theater productions, street theater, regional theater and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. His first television credit was in Vegetable Soup (1975), a New York public television educational series, and he made his feature film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). In his free time, Cobbs enjoys music, reading, and playing his drums. He lives in New York City and Los Angeles, California and continues acting.- Actor
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Lloyd Haynes was born on 19 October 1934 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Room 222 (1969), Star Trek (1966) and Good Guys Wear Black (1978). He was married to Carolyn Yvonne Giorella, Saundra Lee Madariaga and Alice Elizabeth Ellis. He died on 31 December 1986 in Coronado, California, USA.1934-1986- A veteran professional actor who has co-starred as a television series regular in NINE, prime time, HIT series, and has established himself solidly in both the areas of comedy and drama. Hal's latest projects include Disney Family Channel's Snow 2: Brain Freeze (2008) and Hallmark's Generation Gap (2008).
His 25 year professional career has seen him firmly plant both feet in such dramas as Roots: The Next Generations (1979), The Waltons (1972), Harry O (1973) and L.A. Law (1986) while displaying his comedic genius in The Sinbad Show (1993), 227 (1985), Private Benjamin (1981), and Sanford and Son (1972).
Williams works tirelessly to maintain a versatility that enables his career to remain both constant and current. His movie accomplishments continue to be displayed in co-starring roles in feature films like Guess Who (2005) with Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac, Private Benjamin (1980) with Goldie Hawn and The Rookie (1990) with Clint Eastwood. - Actress
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One of television's premier African-American series stars, elegant actress, singer and recording artist Diahann Carroll was born Carol Diann (or Diahann) Johnson on July 17, 1935, in the Bronx, New York. The first child of John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel Faulk Johnson, a nurse; music was an important part of her life as a child, singing at age six with her Harlem church choir. While taking voice and piano lessons, she contemplated an operatic career after becoming the 10-year-old recipient of a Metropolitan Opera scholarship for studies at New York's High School of Music and Art. As a teenager she sought modeling work but it was her voice, in addition to her beauty, that provided the magic and the allure.
When she was 16, she teamed up with a girlfriend from school and auditioned for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show using the more exotic sounding name of Diahann Carroll. She alone was invited to appear and won the contest. She subsequently performed on the daily radio show for three weeks. In her late teens, she began focusing on a nightclub career and it was here that she began formulating a chic, glamorous image. Another TV talent show appearance earned her a week's engagement at the Latin Quarter.
Broadway roles for black singers were rare but at age nineteen, Diahann was cast in the Harold Arlen/Truman Capote musical "House of Flowers". Starring the indomitable Pearl Bailey, Diahann held her own quite nicely in the ingénue role. While the show itself was poorly received, the score was heralded and Diahann managed to introduce two song standards, "A Sleepin' Bee" and "I Never Has Seen Snow", both later recorded by Barbra Streisand.
In 1954 she and Ms. Bailey supported a riveting Dorothy Dandridge as femme fatale Carmen Jones (1954) in an all-black, updated movie version of the Georges Bizet opera "Carmen." Diahann later supported Ms. Dandridge again in Otto Preminger's cinematic retelling of Porgy and Bess (1959). During this time she also grew into a singing personality on TV while visiting such late-nite hosts as Jack Paar and Steve Allen and performing.
Unable to break through into the top ranks in film (she appeared in a secondary role once again in Paris Blues (1961), a Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward vehicle), Diahann returned to Broadway. She was rewarded with a Tony Award for her exceptional performance as a fashion model in the 1962 musical "No Strings," a bold, interracial love story that co-starred Richard Kiley. Richard Rodgers, whose first musical this was after the death of partner Oscar Hammerstein, wrote the part specifically for Diahann, which included her lovely rendition of the song standard "The Sweetest Sounds." By this time she had already begun to record albums ("Diahann Carroll Sings Harold Arlen" (1957), "Diahann Carroll and Andre Previn" (1960), "The Fabulous Diahann Carroll" (1962). Nightclub entertaining filled up a bulk of her time during the early-to-mid 1960s, along with TV guest appearances on Carol Burnett, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Danny Kaye's musical variety shows.
Little did Diahann know that in the late 1960s she would break a major ethnic barrier on the small screen. Though it was nearly impossible to suppress the natural glamour and sophistication of Diahann, she touchingly portrayed an ordinary nurse and widow struggling to raise a small son in the series Julia (1968). Despite other Black American actresses starring in a TV series (i.e., Hattie McDaniel in "Beulah"), Diahann became the first full-fledged African-American female "star" -- top billed, in which the show centered around her lead character. The show gradually rose in ratings and Diahann won a Golden Globe award for "Best Newcomer" and an Emmy nomination. The show lasted only two seasons, at her request.
A renewed interest in film led Diahann to the dressed-down title role of Claudine (1974), as a Harlem woman raising six children on her own. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1975, but her acting career would become more and more erratic after this period. She did return, however, to the stage with productions of "Same Time, Next Year" and "Agnes of God". While much ado was made about her return to series work as a fashionplate nemesis to Joan Collins' ultra-vixen character on the glitzy primetime soap Dynasty (1981), it became much about nothing as the juicy pairing failed to ignite. Diahann's character was also a part of the short-lived "Dynasty" spin-off The Colbys (1985).
Throughout the late 1980s and early 90s she toured with her fourth husband, singer Vic Damone, with occasional acting appearances to fill in the gaps. Some of her finest work came with TV-movies, notably her century-old Sadie Delany in Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999) and as troubled singer Natalie Cole's mother in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000). She also portrayed silent screen diva Norma Desmond in the musical version of "Sunset Blvd." and toured America performing classic Broadway standards in the concert show "Almost Like Being in Love: The Lerner and Loewe Songbook." She then had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy (2005) and White Collar (2009).
Diahann Carroll died on October 4, 2019, in Los Angeles, California.1935-2019- A classy, smart-looking African-American actress who broke racial barriers in 1970s Hollywood but suffered greatly in her private life years after her TV glory days, award-winning actress Gail Fisher was born on August 18, 1935, in Orange, New Jersey, the youngest of five children. Her father, a carpenter, died when she was only two years old and the family was destitute, living in the slums ("Potters Crossing") with their widowed mother Ona Fisher. Gail was a cheerleader as a teen and found some joy performing a leading role in one of her Metuchen High School plays in Metuchen, New Jersey. Beauty pageants became a source of pride during this period, earning distinction on the beauty-pageant circuit and becoming the first African-American semifinalist in the New Jersey State Fair beauty contest. A multiple pageant winner, among her titles were "Miss Transit," "Miss Black New Jersey" and "Miss Press Photographer."
Thanks to a contest sponsored by Coca-Cola, Gail won the chance to study acting at New York's American Academy of Arts for two years. She trained under Lee Strasberg for a time and subsequently became a member (the first African-American accepted) of the Repertory Theater at Lincoln Center, where she worked with Elia Kazan and Herbert Blau. The young serene beauty also worked as a model at the time and even worked in a factory to pay bills. In 1964 she married John Levy (1912-2012), a bassist and pioneer jazz talent manager whose clients included some of the jazz world's biggest names (Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery). He also managed Gail's acting career. John and Gail, who was his second wife, had two children, Samara and Jole.
In 1965, teacher Herbert Blau cast Gail in a classical stage production of "Danton's Death" in 1965. Gail also understudied Ruby Dee in "Purlie Victorious" on Broadway and toured with a production of "A Raisin in the Sun". The 25-year-old broke into TV years earlier in 1959, appearing in the syndicated program "Play of the Week" entitled "Simply Heavenly," a musical starring Mel Stewart and Claudia McNeil, and also played a singer in the series "The Defenders" and a judge on daytime's "General Hospital". During the early part of the 1960s, she made history when she appeared in a nationally televised commercial for All laundry detergent and became the first black performer to be given dialogue.
The crime series Mannix (1967) starring Mike Connors was revamped in its second season due to mediocre ratings and Gail was added to the mix as Peggy Fair, Mannix's widowed secretary whose murdered husband, a cop, was a friend to the detective and who was now raising their small son alone. Sometimes Peggy would go undercover as a housekeeper or prostitute to help him solve crimes. The public immediately took to the dusky-voiced actress and the ratings soared. Any slight hint of romance between the Peggy Fair and Joe Mannix characters was never acted upon as CBS (who initially was hesitant in hiring a black woman in this role), or any other network for that matter, would not allow an interracial romance. Gail went on to win an Emmy (the first black actress to do so -- besting Susan Saint James of "McMillan and Wife" and Barbara Anderson of "Ironside") and two Golden Globe trophies (the first black actress to win this award) in the process. In between she made amiable guest appearances on such popular TV series as "My Three Sons," "Love, American Style" and "Room 222."
Once "Mannix" was canceled in 1975, however, acting offers slowed down considerably and chaos rose beneath her usually calm and controlled exterior. Not in keeping with her public image, she flew into a series of marriages and divorces and developed a major drug problem. She made tabloid headlines in 1978 when she was busted for possession of marijuana and cocaine and for using an illegal phone device. She entered rehab and eventually recovered but her career was irreparably damaged. Sporadic acting roles came in such series as "Medical Center," "Fantasy Island," "Knight Rider" and "Hotel," and the TV movie Donor (1990) and the grade-Z crime film Mankillers (1987) co-starring Edd Byrnes, but they were very few and far between. Fisher was married at least twice and had two daughters, Samara and Jole, from her marriage to John Levy, which ended in divorce in 1972 during the run of "Mannix". She briefly married second husband Robert A. Walker the following year.
Gail's battle with drug addiction contributed to her health decline. A diabetic as well, she was later diagnosed with emphysema. Gail died of renal failure in Los Angeles in 2000 at age 65 and was cremated. News of her death did not surface until four months later. Survived by brother Herbert and sister Ona, another brother, Clifton, died of heart failure twelve hours after Gail's passing. Gail was such a class act on TV.1935-2000 - Actor
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Often mentioned as the greatest player in NFL history, this ruggedly handsome African American fullback for the Cleveland Browns first appeared on movie screens in the western Rio Conchos (1964), followed by a strong supporting role as convict commando "Jefferson" in the terrific WWII action film The Dirty Dozen (1967). He was kept busy with additional on screen appearances in other fast paced films including Ice Station Zebra (1968), 100 Rifles (1969) and El Condor (1970).
Brown's popularity grew during the boom of "blaxploitation" cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough "no nonsense" characters in Slaughter (1972), Black Gunn (1972) and Three the Hard Way (1974). His on-screen work in the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s was primarily centered around guest spots on popular TV shows such as CHiPs (1977) and Knight Rider (1982). However, Brown then resurfaced in better quality films beginning with his role as a fiery assassin in The Running Man (1987), he parodied the blaxploitation genre along with many other African-American actors in the comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), played an ex-heavyweight boxer in the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996) and ironically played an ex-football legend in the Oliver Stone directed sports film Any Given Sunday (1999).
Additionally, Jim Brown was a ringside commentator for the first six events of the Ultimate Fighting Championships from 1993 through to 1996. A bona fide legend in American sports and a successful actor, he continues to remain busy in front of the camera with recent appearances in various sports shows & TV productions.1936-2023- Actor
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Louis Gossett Jr. was one of the most respected and beloved actors on stage, screen and television and was also an accomplished writer, producer and director. Off-screen, he was a social activist, educator, and author dedicated to enriching the lives of others. He was the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his unforgettable performance as drill Sergeant Emil Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman".
Among his other awards were an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of Fiddler in the groundbreaking ABC series "Roots", a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for "The Josephine Baker Story" and a Golden Globe for "An Officer and a Gentleman". He was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, one Academy Award, five Images Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards and in 1992 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He received numerous other honors throughout his illustrious career.
His film debut was in the 1961 classic movie "A Raisin in the Sun" with Sidney Poitier. Other film credits include "The Deep," "Blue Chips," "Daddy's Little Girls," Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too?," "Firewalker," "Jaws-3D," "Enemy Mine" and "Iron Eagle" 1-4, among many others. Television credits include "Extant," "Madam Secretary," "Boardwalk Empire," "Family Guy", and "ER", among dozens of others.
Gossett authored the bestselling autobiography "An Actor and a Gentleman", recounting the challenges and triumphs of his 50+ year career. Gossett was recognized as much for his humanitarian efforts as for his accomplishments as an actor. In 2006, he founded The Eracism Foundation which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating racism. The foundation provides young adults with tools to live a racially diverse and culturally inclusive life. Programs focus on fostering cultural diversity, historical enrichment, education and anti-violence initiatives.
Gossett was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and made his stage debut when he was 17 years old in "Take a Giant Step", which was selected as one of the 10 best Broadway shows of 1953 by the New York Times. He had two sons and resided in Malibu until his death in Santa Monica, California, in 2024, aged 87.1936-2024- Mary Alice was born on 3 December 1936 in Indianola, Mississippi, USA. She was an actress, known for The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Awakenings (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). She died on 27 July 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.1936-2022
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Garrett Morris was born on 1 February 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Coneheads (1993), Saturday Night Live (1975) and How High (2001). He has been married to Freda Morris since 20 September 1996.