Mantan Moreland
Born just after the turn of the century in Louisiana, Mantan began running away from home at age 12 to join circuses and medicine shows, only to be brought back time and again. During these times he sharpened his comic skills and developed routines and acts that eventually became popular on the vaudeville stage, or what was then called the "chitlin' circuit." A solo performer by nature, he often teamed up with other famous comics (such as Ben Carter) to keep working, and became a deft performer of "indefinite talk" routines, where two quicksilver comics continually topped each other in mid-sentence, as if reading each other's mind (i.e., "Say, did you see...?" "Saw him just yesterday...didn't look so good"). Mantan's focus gradually shifted his trade toward film, where he initially appeared in servile bits (shoeshine men, porters, waiters). However, his talent for making people laugh couldn't be overlooked and he soon earned featured status in Harlem-styled western parodies and grade "A" comedy films playing the superstitious, ever-terrified manservant running from any kind of impending doom.
Moreland's peak in movies came with his recurring role as Birmingham, the skittish chauffeur, in the "Charlie Chan" series, where he was forever forewarning his boss to stay away from an obviously dangerous case or situation. Though haunted mansions were an ideal place for setting off his stereotyped character, Mantan would be haunted in a different way by this Hollywood success in years to follow. By the 1950s, racial attitudes began to change and, with the rise of the civil rights movement, what was once considered hilarious was now interpreted as demeaning and offensive to both blacks and whites. Mantan and others, such as Stepin Fetchit, were ostracized and ridiculed by Hollywood for their past negative portrayals. It took decades for audiences to forgive and newer generations to forget the Depression-era comedy of Mantan Moreland in order for the actor to come back.
In the late 1960s he managed a modest resurgence on TV and in commercials and occasional films, allowing him to work again with such comic heavyweights as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and director Carl Reiner. It was all too brief, however, for Mantan, long suffering from ill health, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973, just as he was settling in to his renewed popularity. Today, audiences tend to be kinder and more understanding of Moreland, remembering him as a highly talented comic who, in the only way he knew, broke major barriers and opened the doors for others black actors to follow.
Fotos
Películas (108)
The Young Nurses
1973 · Old Man
Watermelon Man
1970 · Joe the Counterman
The Comic
1969 · Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
Spider Baby
1967 · Messenger
Enter Laughing
1967 · Subway Rider
The Patsy
1964 · Barber Shop Porter
Rockin' the Blues
1956 · Self
Sky Dragon
1949 · Birmingham Brown
Come On, Cowboy!
1949 · Mantan
The Feathered Serpent
1948 · Birmingham Brown
The Golden Eye
1948 · Birmingham Brown
She's Too Mean for Me
1948
The Shanghai Chest
1948 · Birmingham Brown
The Dreamer
1948
Docks of New Orleans
1948 · Birmingham Brown
What a Guy
1948
The Chinese Ring
1947 · Birmingham Brown
Return of Mandy's Husband
1947 · Mantan
The Trap
1946 · Birmingham Brown
Mantan Runs for Mayor
1946
Shadows Over Chinatown
1946 · Birmingham Brown
Tall, Tan and Terrific
1946 · Mantan Moreland
Dark Alibi
1946 · Birmingham Brown
Riverboat Rhythm
1946 · Mantan
Mantan Messes Up
1946 · Mantan
The Spider
1945 · Harry
She Wouldn't Say Yes
1945 · Porter (uncredited)
Captain Tugboat Annie
1945 · Pinto
The Shanghai Cobra
1945 · Birmingham Brown
The Scarlet Clue
1945 · Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
The Jade Mask
1945 · Birmingham Brown
Bowery to Broadway
1944 · Alabam
Black Magic
1944 · Birmingham Brown
South of Dixie
1944 · The Porter
This Is the Life
1944 · Porter (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
1944 · Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
Pin Up Girl
1944 · Train Station Porter (uncredited)
Moon Over Las Vegas
1944 · Porter
See Here, Private Hargrove
1944 · Train Porter (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
1944 · Birmingham Brown
Chip Off the Old Block
1944 · Porter
Swing Fever
1943 · Woody, Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
1943 · Porter
Revenge of the Zombies
1943 · Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
Melody Parade
1943 · Skidmore
We've Never Been Licked
1943 · Willie
Sarong Girl
1943 · Maxwell
Hit the Ice
1943 · Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
He Hired the Boss
1943 · Bootblack
Slightly Dangerous
1943 · Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
Cabin in the Sky
1943 · First Idea Man
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
1943 · Eustace Smith
Andy Hardy's Double Life
1942 · Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
Eyes in the Night
1942 · Alistair
Girl Trouble
1942 · Flint's Chauffeur
Phantom Killer
1942 · Nicodemus
A-Haunting We Will Go
1942 · Porter (uncredited)
Footlight Serenade
1942 · Amos
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
1942 · Lightnin'
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
1942 · Schenectady Washington
Tarzan's New York Adventure
1942 · Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
1942 · Horatio B.Fitz Washington
Professor Creeps
1942 · Washington
Lucky Ghost
1942 · Washington
Law of the Jungle
1942 · Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
Treat 'Em Rough
1942 · 'Snake-Eyes'
Four Jacks and a Jill
1942 · Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
Freckles Comes Home
1942 · Jeff the porter
Marry the Boss's Daughter
1941 · Diner Cook
Birth of the Blues
1941 · Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
It Started with Eve
1941 · Railway Porter (uncredited)
Let's Go Collegiate
1941 · Jeff
Dressed to Kill
1941 · Rusty
Cracked Nuts
1941 · Burgess
The Gang's All Here
1941 · Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
King of the Zombies
1941 · Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
Sign of the Wolf
1941 · Ben
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
1941 · Roy
Sleepers West
1941 · Porter (uncredited)
You're Out of Luck
1941 · Jeff Jefferson
Up Jumped the Devil
1941 · Washington
Four Shall Die
1940 · Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
Drums of the Desert
1940 · Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
While Thousands Cheer
1940 · Nash
Up in the Air
1940 · Jeff Jefferson
Laughing at Danger
1940 · Jefferson
Maryland
1940
On the Spot
1940 · Jefferson White
Girl in 313
1940 · Porter
Viva Cisco Kid
1940 · Memphis - The Cook
Star Dust
1940 · Waiter on Train
Millionaire Playboy
1940 · Bellhop
Chasing Trouble
1940 · Thomas H. Jefferson
City of Chance
1940 · Anxious Man
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
1940 · Robbins
Irish Luck
1939 · Jefferson
Riders of the Frontier
1939 · Chappie, the Cook
Tell No Tales
1939 · Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
One Dark Night
1939 · Samson Brown
Gang Smashers
1938 · Gloomy
Next Time I Marry
1938 · Tilby
Frontier Scout
1938 · Norris Family Butler
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
1938 · Bill Blake
Spirit of Youth
1938 · Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
Harlem on the Prairie
1937 · Mistletoe
The Green Pastures
1936 · Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
That's the Spirit
1933 · Night Watchman
Ebony Parade
· Mantan
