Profil osoby

Mantan Moreland

Ur. 03 września 1902Zm. 28 września 1973Monroe, Louisiana, USA

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.

IMDb

Filmografia

Filmy i seriale od najnowszych

112 pozycji

The Young Nurses

Film • 1973

jako Old Man

Watermelon Man

Film • 1970

jako Joe the Counterman

The Comic

Film • 1969

jako Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)

Love, American Style

Serial • 1969

jako Stranger

The Bill Cosby Show

Serial • 1969

jako Uncle Dewey

Adam-12

Serial • 1968

jako Philip Richards

Julia

Serial • 1968

jako Harry James

Spider Baby

Film • 1967

jako Messenger

Enter Laughing

Film • 1967

jako Subway Rider

The Patsy

Film • 1964

jako Barber Shop Porter

Rockin' the Blues

Film • 1956

jako Self

Sky Dragon

Film • 1949

jako Birmingham Brown

Come On, Cowboy!

Film • 1949

jako Mantan

The Feathered Serpent

Film • 1948

Film • 1947

jako Mantan

The Trap

Film • 1946

jako Birmingham Brown

Mantan Runs for Mayor

Film • 1946

Shadows Over Chinatown

Film • 1946

jako Birmingham Brown

Tall, Tan and Terrific

Film • 1946

jako Mantan Moreland

Dark Alibi

Film • 1946

jako Birmingham Brown

Riverboat Rhythm

Film • 1946

jako Mantan

Mantan Messes Up

Film • 1946

jako Mantan

The Spider

Film • 1945

jako Harry

She Wouldn't Say Yes

Film • 1945

jako Porter (uncredited)

Captain Tugboat Annie

Film • 1945

jako Pinto

The Shanghai Cobra

Film • 1945

jako Birmingham Brown

The Scarlet Clue

Film • 1945

jako Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur

The Jade Mask

Film • 1945

jako Birmingham Brown

Bowery to Broadway

Film • 1944

jako Alabam

Black Magic

Film • 1944

jako Birmingham Brown

South of Dixie

Film • 1944

jako The Porter

This Is the Life

Film • 1944

jako Porter (uncredited)

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat

Film • 1944

jako Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver

Pin Up Girl

Film • 1944

jako Train Station Porter (uncredited)

Moon Over Las Vegas

Film • 1944

jako Porter

See Here, Private Hargrove

Film • 1944

jako Train Porter (uncredited)

Charlie Chan in the Secret Service

Film • 1944

jako Birmingham Brown

Chip Off the Old Block

Film • 1944

jako Porter

Swing Fever

Film • 1943

jako Woody

You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith

Film • 1943

jako Porter

Zemsta zombie

Film • 1943

jako Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson

Melody Parade

Film • 1943

jako Skidmore

We've Never Been Licked

Film • 1943

jako Willie

Sarong Girl

Film • 1943

jako Maxwell

Hit the Ice

Film • 1943

jako Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)

He Hired the Boss

Film • 1943

jako Bootblack

Slightly Dangerous

Film • 1943

jako Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)

Cabin in the Sky

Film • 1943

jako First Idea Man

Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher

Film • 1943

jako Eustace Smith

Andy Hardy's Double Life

Film • 1942

jako Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)

Eyes in the Night

Film • 1942

jako Alistair

Girl Trouble

Film • 1942

jako Flint's Chauffeur

Phantom Killer

Film • 1942

jako Nicodemus

Trumna pod sufitem

Film • 1942

jako Porter (uncredited)

Footlight Serenade

Film • 1942

jako Amos

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost

Film • 1942

jako Lightnin'

Mr. Washington Goes to Town

Film • 1942

jako Schenectady Washington

Tarzan w Nowym Jorku

Film • 1942

jako Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

Film • 1942

jako Horatio B.Fitz Washington

Professor Creeps

Film • 1942

jako Washington

Lucky Ghost

Film • 1942

jako Washington

Law of the Jungle

Film • 1942

jako Jefferson "Jeff" Jones

Treat 'Em Rough

Film • 1942

jako 'Snake-Eyes'

Four Jacks and a Jill

Film • 1942

jako Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)

Freckles Comes Home

jako Jefferson

jako Night Watchman

Ebony Parade

Film

jako Mantan