The Ten Commandments
1956
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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.
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.
- January 1, 1
- Cairo, Illinois, USA
- January 1, 1
- Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
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.
- October 20, 1895
- September 19, 1969
- At A Glance…
- Fought Against Racial Stereotypes in Film
- Fame and Dignity on Stage
- Struggling For His Principles
- Troubled Personal Life Threatened Career
- Determined to The End
- Sources
Born October 20, 1895, on a houseboat on the Mississippi River near Cairo, IL; died of a heart attack, September 19, 1969, in Hollywood, CA; son of Robert E. Lee (a fireman on the steamer); twice married, with children. Education:Received degrees from Northwestern University. Began acting career with role in Tarzan of the Apes, 1918; appeared in si...
Early Hollywood was racist to the core and offered virtually no opportunities for black actors or actresses. Although The Green Pastures and 1934’s Imitation of Life —two early Hollywood films that focused on black life—had been box office successes, Hollywood still did not produce another major film about black culture and people until World War I...
If Rex Ingram was able to achieve relative success in struggling for dignity through his film roles, his stage roles afforded him much more room for expression. New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson’s review of Ingram’s performance in a Federal Theater Project play was quoted in the paper’s obituary for Ingram years later. The actor had played the ...
After acting in the parts of the Emperor and De Lawd and gaining self-confidence from each experience, Ingram decided not to work again in roles that he considered demeaning to African Americans. In the New York Times in 1938, he described his watershed personal decision: “I decided [two years ago] to help our cause to the best of my ability. I wou...
In 1948, Ingram’s career was interrupted once more, although this time not for decisions based on noble principles. This time he pleaded guilty to charges under the Mann Act that he transported a 15-year-old girl from Kansas to New York “for immoral purposes.” He served over nine months in prison before being released on parole from an 18-month sen...
It was after his 1948 indiscretion, the subsequent jail term, and his three-year absence from the entertainment industry that Rex Ingram received the glorious welcoming reception back to the stage from the Los Angeles theater audience in 1951. From then on, Ingram continued to work on stage, screen, and later on television. His most notable achieve...
Books
Bawden, Liz-Anne, editor, The Oxford Companion to Film, Oxford UniversityPress, 1976. Bogle, Donald, Blacks in American Film and Television: An Encyclopedia,Garland Publishing, 1988.
Periodicals
Ebony,March 1955, pp. 48-58. New York Times,July 24, 1938; September 20,1969, p. 29. —Nicholas S. Patti
Director: The Great Problem. Renowned director Rex Ingram started his film career as a set designer and painter. His directorial debut was The Great Problem (1916). A true master of the medium, Ingram despised the business haggling required in the Hollywood system.
- January 1, 1
- Dublin, Ireland
- January 1, 1
- North Hollywood, California, USA
Oct 25, 2008 · Rex Ingram, one of the first African American male actors to serve on the Board of the Screen Actors Guild, was born in 1895 on a houseboat on the Mississippi River near Cairo Illinois.
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Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1969) was an American stage, film, and television actor. 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 there.
