Mantan Moreland
- Recitazione
- 3 settembre 1902 · Monroe, Louisiana, USA
- 28 settembre 1973
Biografia
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.
Noto per
Filmografia
- The Young Nurses · Old Man
- L'uomo caffellatte · Joe the Counterman
- Il comico · Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
- Love, American Style · Stranger
- The Bill Cosby Show · Uncle Dewey
- Adam-12 · Philip Richards
- Julia · Harry James
- Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told · Messenger
- Enter Laughing · Subway Rider
- Jerry 8 e 3/4 · Barber Shop Porter
- Rockin' the Blues · In persona
- Il drago volante · Birmingham Brown
- Come On, Cowboy! · Mantan
- Il serpente piumato · Birmingham Brown
- L'occhio d'oro · Birmingham Brown
- She's Too Mean for Me
- Lo scrigno orientale · Birmingham Brown
- The Dreamer
- I docks di New Orleans · Birmingham Brown
- What a Guy
- L'anello cinese · Birmingham Brown
- Return of Mandy's Husband · Mantan
- Charlie Chan in trappola · Birmingham Brown
- Mantan Runs for Mayor
- Charlie Chan a Chinatown · Birmingham Brown
- Tall, Tan and Terrific · Mantan Moreland
- Charlie Chan e l'alibi oscuro · Birmingham Brown
- Riverboat Rhythm · Mantan
- Mantan Messes Up · Mantan
- The Spider · Harry
- Non volle dir sì · Porter (uncredited)
- Captain Tugboat Annie · Pinto
- The Shanghai Cobra · Birmingham Brown
- The Scarlet Clue · Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
- Charlie Chan e la maschera di giada · Birmingham Brown
- Bowery to Broadway · Alabam
- Black Magic · Birmingham Brown
- South of Dixie · The Porter
- This Is the Life · Porter (uncredited)
- Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat · Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
- La fidanzata di tutti · Train Station Porter (uncredited)
- Moon Over Las Vegas · Porter
- See Here, Private Hargrove · Train Porter (uncredited)
- Charlie Chan nei servizi segreti · Birmingham Brown
- Chip Off the Old Block · Porter
- Swing Fever · Woody, Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
- You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith · Porter
- Revenge of the Zombies · Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
- Melody Parade · Skidmore
- We've Never Been Licked · Willie
- Sarong Girl · Maxwell
- Avventura in montagna · Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
- He Hired the Boss · Bootblack
- La fortuna è bionda · Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
- Due cuori in cielo · First Idea Man
- Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher · Eustace Smith
- La doppia vita di Andy Hardy · Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
- Occhi nella notte · Alistair
- Girl Trouble · Flint's Chauffeur
- Phantom Killer · Nicodemus
- Sim salà bim · Porter (uncredited)
- Baci carezze e pugni · Amos
- Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost · Lightnin'
- Mr. Washington Goes to Town · Schenectady Washington
- Tarzan a New York · Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
- The Strange Case of Doctor Rx · Horatio B.Fitz Washington
- Professor Creeps · Washington
- Lucky Ghost · Washington
- Law of the Jungle · Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
- Treat 'Em Rough · 'Snake-Eyes'
- Four Jacks and a Jill · Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
- Freckles Comes Home · Jeff the porter
- Marry the Boss's Daughter · Diner Cook
- Birth of the Blues · Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
- La prima è stata Eva · Railway Porter (uncredited)
- Let's Go Collegiate · Jeff
- Michael Shayne e l'enigma della maschera · Rusty
- Cracked Nuts · Burgess
- The Gang's All Here · Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
- King of the Zombies · Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson