Rex Ingram (actor)
- For the film director, producer, writer and actor, see Rex Ingram (director) (1892–1950).
Rex Ingram | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 20, 1895 Cairo, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 1969 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1918–1969 |
| Spouses | Lauwaune Kennard
(m. 1941, divorced)
|
Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1969) was an American stage, film, and television actor.[1][2]
Early life and career
[edit]Ingram was born near Cairo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River; his father was a steamer fireman on the riverboat Robert E. Lee. Ingram graduated from the Northwestern University medical school in 1919 and was the first African-American man to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from Northwestern University.[3] He went to Hollywood as a young man where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), starring Elmo Lincoln. He made his (uncredited) screen debut in that film and had many other small roles, usually as a generic black native, such as in the Tarzan films.
With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version, opposite Mickey Rooney), The Thief of Bagdad (1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943).[2]
From 1929, he also appeared on stage, making his debut on Broadway. He appeared in more than a dozen Broadway productions, with his final role coming in Kwamina in 1961. He was in the original cast of Haiti (1938), Cabin in the Sky (1940), and St. Louis Woman (1946). He is one of the few actors to have played both God (in The Green Pastures) and the Devil (in Cabin in the Sky). In 1966 he played Tee-Tot in the movie Your Cheatin' Heart.
Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act in 1948.[4] Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He served just ten months of his sentence, but the incident had a serious effect on his career for the next six years. In the interim, he invested in the Club Alabam, a famed nightclub located in the Dunbar Hotel in South Central Los Angeles, with partners Joe Morris and Clarence Moore, reopening it as a jazz club.[5]
In 1962, he became the first African-American actor to be hired for a contract role on a soap opera, when he appeared on The Brighter Day. He had other minor work in television in the 1960s, appearing in an episode each of I Spy and The Bill Cosby Show, both of which starred Bill Cosby, who used his influence to land him the roles.[citation needed]
Death
[edit]Two weeks after filming a guest spot on The Bill Cosby Show on September 5, 1969, Ingram died of a heart attack at the age of 73.[1][6]
Complete filmography
[edit]| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Tarzan of the Apes | Uncredited | |
| Salomé | Uncredited | ||
| 1923 | The Ten Commandments | Israelite Slave | Uncredited |
| 1927 | The King of Kings | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1929 | The Four Feathers | Fuzzy Wuzzy Native | Uncredited |
| 1933 | The Emperor Jones | Court Crier | Uncredited |
| 1934 | Harlem After Midnight | ||
| 1936 | The Green Pastures | Adam / De Lawd / Hezdrel | |
| 1939 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Jim | |
| 1940 | The Thief of Bagdad | Djinn | |
| 1941 | Hoola Boola | Narrator | Short |
| The Gay Knighties | Narrator | Short | |
| 1942 | Jasper and the Watermelons | Voice, Short | |
| Tulips Shall Grow | Narrator | Short | |
| The Talk of the Town | Tilney | ||
| 1943 | Cabin in the Sky | Lucifer Jr. / Lucius Ferry | |
| Sahara | Sgt. Major Tambul | ||
| Fired Wife | Charles | ||
| 1944 | Jasper's Paradise | Voice, Short | |
| Dark Waters | Pearson Jackson | ||
| 1945 | Hot Lips Jasper | Voice, Short | |
| Jasper Tell | Voice, Short | ||
| A Thousand and One Nights | Giant | ||
| Adventure | Preacher | ||
| 1947 | Shoe Shine Jasper | Voice, Short | |
| 1948 | Moonrise | Mose | |
| 1955 | Tarzan's Hidden Jungle | Sukulu Chieftain | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Congo Crossing | Dr. Leopold Gorman | |
| 1957 | Hell on Devil's Island | Lulu | |
| 1958 | God's Little Acre | Uncle Felix | |
| Anna Lucasta | Joseph Lucasta | ||
| 1959 | Escort West | Nelson Water | |
| Watusi | Umbopa | Alternative title: The Quest for King Solomon's Mines | |
| 1960 | Elmer Gantry | Preacher | Uncredited |
| Desire in the Dust | Burt Crane | ||
| 1964 | Your Cheatin' Heart | Tee-Tot | |
| 1967 | Hurry Sundown | Professor Thurlow | |
| 1968 | Journey to Shiloh | Jacob |
Partial television credits
[edit]| Year | Series | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Climax! | Petraca | 1 episode |
| 1958 | Whirlybirds | Joe | 1 episode |
| 1959 | Black Saddle | Alex Booth | 1 episode |
| 1961 | The Rifleman | Thaddeus | 1 episode |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Judge Larkin | 1 episode |
| 1965 | I Spy | Dr. Bingham | 1 episode |
| 1966 | Branded | Hannibal | 1 episode |
| 1967–1968 | Daktari | Natoma Chief Makuba |
2 episodes |
| 1968 | Cowboy in Africa | Dr. Tom Merar | 1 episode |
| 1969 | Gunsmoke | Juba | 1 episode |
| The Bill Cosby Show | George | Episode: A Christmas Ballad; posthumous release (final television appearance) |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Rex Ingrain, the Actor, Dies in Hollywood at 73. His Portrayal of De Lawd in 'Green Pastures' Hailed. Medical School Graduate". New York Times. September 20, 1969. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
- ^ a b "Rex Ingram, 20th Century Actor". African American Registry. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
- ^ Bogle, Donald (2001). Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (4 ed.). Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 69. ISBN 0-8264-1267-X.
- ^ "Rex Ingram is Released for Hearing on Oct. 4th". The New York Age. September 28, 1948. p. 3. Retrieved December 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Variety, October 25, 1951
- ^ "Veteran Actor Rex Ingram Died of Heart Attack". Jet. 36 (26). Johnson Publishing Company: 56. 1969-10-02.
Further reading
[edit]- Maltin, Leonard (2015) [First published 1969]. "Rex Ingram". The Real Stars : Profiles and Interviews of Hollywood's Unsung Featured Players (softcover) (Sixth / eBook ed.). Great Britain: CreateSpace Independent. pp. 145–157. ISBN 978-1-5116-4485-3.
External links
[edit]
- Rex Ingram at the Internet Broadway Database
- Rex Ingram at IMDb
- Rex Ingram at Find a Grave
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1895 births
- 1969 deaths
- Male actors from Illinois
- People convicted of violating the Mann Act
- American male film actors
- American male silent film actors
- American male soap opera actors
- American male stage actors
- American male television actors
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
- Feinberg School of Medicine alumni
- People from Cairo, Illinois
- 20th-century American male actors
- 20th-century African-American male actors
- Federal Theatre Project people