Rex Ingram (actor)
Encyclopedia
Rex Ingram was an American stage, film, and television actor
.
on the Mississippi River
, Ingram's 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
. 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).
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).
Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act
in 1949. 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 impact on his career for the next six years.
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 sixties, 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.
at the age of 73. On his passing, his body was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery
in Los Angeles
.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Early life and career
Born near Cairo, IllinoisCairo, Illinois
Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...
on the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, Ingram's father was a steamer fireman on the riverboat Robert E. Lee. Ingram graduated from the Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
medical school in 1919 and was the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
man to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. 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
Tarzan of the Apes (film)
Tarzan of the Apes is a 1918 American action/adventure silent film directed by Scott Sidney starring Elmo Lincoln, Enid Markey, George B. French and Gordon Griffith. The movie was the first Tarzan movie ever made, and is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' original novel Tarzan of the Apes...
(1918), starring Elmo Lincoln
Elmo Lincoln
Elmo Lincoln was an American film actor.Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the barrel-chested actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes as an adult --...
. 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
The Green Pastures (film)
The Green Pastures is a 1936 film depicting stories from the Bible as visualized by African American characters. It starred Rex Ingram , Oscar Polk, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson...
(1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939 film)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1939 film adaptation of Mark Twain's classic novel of the same name, starring Mickey Rooney in the title role.-Cast:*Mickey Rooney as Huckleberry Finn*Walter Connolly as the 'King'*William Frawley as the 'Duke'...
(the 1939 MGM version, opposite Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
), The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
(1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943).
From 1929, he also appeared on stage, making his debut on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. 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
Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
(1940), and St. Louis Woman (1946). He is one of the few actors to have played both God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
(in The Green Pastures) and the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
(in Cabin in the Sky).
Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act
Mann Act
The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act, is a United States law, passed June 25, 1910 . It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann, and in its original form prohibited white slavery and the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”...
in 1949. 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 impact on his career for the next six years.
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
The Brighter Day
The Brighter Day is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954-1956...
. He had other minor work in television in the sixties, appearing in an episode each of I Spy and The Bill Cosby Show
The Bill Cosby Show
The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with...
, both of which starred Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, who used his influence to land him the roles.
Death
Shortly after filming a guest spot on The Bill Cosby Show, Ingram died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 73. On his passing, his body was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Selected filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1918 | Tarzan of the Apes Tarzan of the Apes (film) Tarzan of the Apes is a 1918 American action/adventure silent film directed by Scott Sidney starring Elmo Lincoln, Enid Markey, George B. French and Gordon Griffith. The movie was the first Tarzan movie ever made, and is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' original novel Tarzan of the Apes... |
Uncredited | |
| Salomé Salomé (1918 film) Salomé is a silent film produced by William Fox and starring actress Theda Bara. The film is now considered to be lost.Henri Langlois, a French film preservationist, said he had the opportunity to buy this film but dismissed it as Fox, Theda Bara, and American spectacle... |
Uncredited | ||
| 1923 | The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (1923 film) The Ten Commandments is a 1923 American epic silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts as Moses, Charles de Rochefort as Pharaoh Ramesses, Estelle Taylor as Miriam the sister of Moses, and James Neill as Aaron, the brother of Moses... |
Israelite Slave | Uncredited |
| 1927 | The King of Kings | Undetermined Role | Uncredited |
| 1929 | The Four Feathers The Four Feathers The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title.-Plot summary:... |
Fuzzy Wuzzy Native | Uncredited |
| 1933 | The Emperor Jones The Emperor Jones (1933 film) The Emperor Jones is a 1933 film adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same title, directed by Dudley Murphy, featuring Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, and Fredi Washington. The screenplay was written by DuBose Heyward and filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios with the beach scene... |
Court Crier | Uncredited |
| 1936 | The Green Pastures The Green Pastures (film) The Green Pastures is a 1936 film depicting stories from the Bible as visualized by African American characters. It starred Rex Ingram , Oscar Polk, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson... |
Adam/De Lawd/Hezdrel | |
| 1939 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939 film) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1939 film adaptation of Mark Twain's classic novel of the same name, starring Mickey Rooney in the title role.-Cast:*Mickey Rooney as Huckleberry Finn*Walter Connolly as the 'King'*William Frawley as the 'Duke'... |
Jim | |
| 1940 | The Thief of Bagdad The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film) The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies... |
Djinn | |
| 1942 | The Talk of the Town | Tilney | |
| 1943 | Cabin in the Sky Cabin in the Sky Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances... |
Lucifer Jr./Lucius Ferry | |
| Sahara | Sgt. Major Tambul | ||
| 1944 | Dark Waters Dark Waters (1944 film) Dark Waters is a 1944 Gothic horror film based on the novel of the same name by Francis and Marian Cockrell. It was directed by André De Toth and starred Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone and Thomas Mitchell.-Plot:... |
Pearson Jackson | |
| 1945 | A Thousand and One Nights A Thousand and One Nights (film) A Thousand and One Nights is a tongue-in-cheek Technicolor fantasy film set in the Baghdad of the One Thousand and One Nights, starring Cornel Wilde as Aladdin, Evelyn Keyes as the genie of the magic lamp, Phil Silvers as Aladdin's larcenous sidekick, and Adele Jergens as the princess Aladdin... |
Giant | |
| 1948 | Moonrise Moonrise (film) -Plot:Dane Clark plays Danny Hawkins, the son of a murderer who was hanged for his crimes. Haunted by his father's past, the young man is tormented by the young people of the small southern town in which he lives. Hawkins' only friend is Gilly Johnson , a girl who is quickly falling in love with... |
Mose | |
| 1955 | Tarzan's Hidden Jungle Tarzan's Hidden Jungle Tarzan's Hidden Jungle is a 1955 RKO B&W movie starring Gordon Scott in his first film as Tarzan, taking over the role from Lex Barker, who had in turn followed Johnny Weismuller in the series. This film about Edgar Rice Burroughs' ape-man also features Vera Miles and Jack Elam, and was directed... |
Sukulu Chieftain | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Congo Crossing Congo Crossing Congo Crossing is a 1956 adventure film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Virginia Mayo and George Nader. Most of the exterior sequences were shot in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.-Plot synopsis:... |
Dr. Leopold Gorman | |
| 1958 | God's Little Acre God's Little Acre God's Little Acre is a 1933 novel by Erskine Caldwell, which was made into a film of the same name in 1958.The novel was so controversial that the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice attempted to censor it, leading to the author's arrest and trial for obscenity... |
Uncle Felix | |
| 1959 | Escort West | Nelson Water | |
| Watusi Watusi (film) Watusi is a 1959 MGM adventure film directed by Kurt Neumann and produced by Al Zimbalist and Donald Zimbalist. The screenplay was by James Clavell based on the novel King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard... |
Umbopa | Alternative title: The Quest for King Solomon's Mines | |
| 1960 | Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry (film) Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons.Lancaster won an Academy Award for... |
Preacher of black congregation | Uncredited |
| 1967 | Hurry Sundown Hurry Sundown (film) Hurry Sundown is a 1967 American drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Jane Fonda and Michael Caine. The screenplay by Horton Foote and Thomas C. Ryan is based on the 1965 novel of the same title by K.B... |
Professor Thurlow | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1956 | Climax! | Petraca | 1 episode |
| 1958 | Whirlybirds Whirlybirds Whirlybirds is an American drama television series.... |
Joe | 1 episode |
| 1959 | Black Saddle Black Saddle Black Saddle is an American Western series that ran for forty-four episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide playing Culhane.For... |
Alex Booth | 1 episode |
| 1961 | The Rifleman The Rifleman The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran... |
Thaddeus | 1 episode |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict Sam Benedict Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman.... |
Judge Larkin | 1 episode |
| 1965 | I Spy | Dr. Bingham | 1 episode |
| 1966 | Branded | Hannibal | 1 episode |
| 1967–1968 | Daktari Daktari Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East... |
Natoma Chief Makuba |
2 episodes |
| 1968 | Cowboy in Africa Cowboy in Africa Cowboy in Africa is an ABC television series produced in 1967-1968 by Ivan Tors and starring Chuck Connors. A 1966 television pilot turned into a movie and released to cinemas starring Hugh O'Brian as Jim Sinclair was called Africa - Texas Style.-Plot:... |
Dr. Tom Merar | 1 episode |
| 1969 | Gunsmoke Gunsmoke Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West.... |
Juba | 1 episode |
| The Bill Cosby Show The Bill Cosby Show The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with... |
George | 1 episode | |