Madame Sul-Te-Wan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Madame Sul-Te-Wan (born Nellie Crawford; March 7, 1873 – February 1, 1959) was the first African-American actress to sign a film contract and be a featured performer. She was an American stage, film and television actress for over 50 years. The daughter of former slaves, she began her career in entertainment touring the East Coast with various theatrical companies and moved to California to become a member of the fledgling film community. She became known as a character actress, appeared in high-profile films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), and easily navigated the transition to the sound films. In 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
King Kong
as Native Handmaiden (uncredited)Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world...
Movie page
The Birth of a Nation
as Black WomanTwo families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons,...
Movie page
Mighty Joe Young
as Young Family Servant (Uncredited)A young woman, Jill Young, grew up on her father's ranch in Africa, raising a large gorilla...
Movie page
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
as Girl at the Marriage Market (uncredited)The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven...
Movie page
Sullivan's Travels
as Church Harmonium Player (Uncredited)Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious...
Movie page
Carmen Jones
as Hagar – Carmen's Grandmother (Uncredited)At a parachute factory during WWII, vixen Carmen Jones seduces an engaged soldier to avoid...
Movie page
College
as Cook (uncredited)A bookish college student dismissive of athletics is compelled to try out sports to win the...
Movie page
Imitation of Life
as Cook (uncredited)A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter....
Movie page
The Buccaneer
as Good Luck Charm VendorDuring the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend...
Movie page
San Francisco
as Earthquake Survivor (Uncredited)A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days...
Movie page
Band of Angels
as Flower Vendor (Uncredited)Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her...
Movie page
King of the Zombies
as TahamaDuring World War II, a small plane somewhere over the Caribbean runs low on fuel and is blown...
Movie page
In Old Chicago
as HattieThe O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually...
Movie page
Tarzan and the Trappers
as Witch WomanTarzan goes up against a baddie by the name of Schroeder, who is trapping animals and selling...
Movie page
Operator 13
as Slave at Medicine Show ( Uncredited)American Civil War, 1862. After the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major Allen,...
Movie page
Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Bit in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)An Eddie Cantor look-alike organizes an all-star show to help the war effort.
Movie page
Tarzan of the Apes
as Esmeralda - Jane's Maid (uncredited)A female ape takes to mothering the orphaned boy (Tarzan) and raises him over the course of many...
Movie page
Revenge of the Zombies
as BeulahWhen Dr. Von Altermann's wife Lila dies mysteriously at his spooky mansion her relations suspect...
Movie page
Queen Kelly
as Kali Sana – Aunt's Cook (Uncredited)A prince betrothed to a mad queen falls in love with an orphan girl from a convent.
Movie page
Thunderbolt
as Bit RoleA criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed...
Movie page
Black Moon
as RuvaA woman returning to her island birthplace finds herself drawn to a voodoo cult.
Movie page
Ladies They Talk About
as Mustard (uncredited)A moll, imprisoned after participating in a bank robbery, helps with a breakout plot.
Movie page
Maid of Salem
as TitubaWhen a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes...
Movie page
Uncle Tom's Cabin
as Slave at Wedding (uncredited)In 1856, slave Eliza plans to marry George with the consent of the Shelbys, her masters, but...
Movie page
The Story of Seabiscuit
as LibbyHorse trainer Shawn O'Hara and his lovely niece, Margaret, come to America to escape the memory...
Movie page
Why Change Your Wife?
as Sally's Maid (Uncredited)Robert and Beth Bordon are married but share little. He runs into Sally at a cabaret and the...
Movie page
Something of Value
as Midwife (Uncredited)As Kenya's Mau Mau uprising tears the country apart, former childhood friends Kimani (Sidney...
Movie page
Tell No Tales
as Jim Alley's Mother (uncredited)A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could...
Movie page
Sarah and Son
as Belloc's Maid (Uncredited)A ne'er-do-well husband, after years of abusing his wife, disappears with their son, and winds...
Movie page
So Red the Rose
as Slave (Uncredited)During the American Civil War, Valette Bedford waits patiently for her husband Duncan Bedford,...
Movie page
Maryland
as NaomiA woman tormented by the hunting death of her husband forbids her son to have anything to do...
Movie page
Kentucky
as LilyYoung lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky...
Movie page
Old Wives for New
as Viola's Maid (uncredited)Charles Murdock neglects his fat and lazy wife for another woman; When his other love interest...
Movie page
Hoodoo Ann
as Black CindyA teenage orphan (who believes herself to be "hoodooed") is taken in by a childless couple and...
Movie page
Love Thy Neighbor
as Lady McBethCapitalizing on the famous radio 'feud' between comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The two...
Movie page
Manslaughter
as Prison Inmate (uncredited)Society-girl thrillseeker Lydia's fun comes to an end when she accidentally causes the death of...
Movie page
The Toy Wife
as Eve, a Black Servant (Uncredited)A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Movie page
A Modern Hero
as Mme. Azais' Neighbor ( Uncredited)A 1920s circus performer uses every means at his disposal to achieve fame and fortune at the...
Movie page
The Affairs of Annabel
as Benzedrina (uncredited)Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to...
Movie page
The Show
as Maid (uncredited)A harried propman backstage at a theater must put up with malfunctioning wind machines, roosters...
Movie page
Island in the Sky
as Scrubwoman (Uncredited)A secretary (Gloria Stuart) solves a murder for her boyfriend (Michael Whalen) in the district...
Movie page
Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite
as Ruby (uncredited)Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.
Movie page
Safari
as Native WomanMillionaire Baron de Courland and his fiancée Linda Stewart employ Jim Logan as a guide for...
Movie page
Mokey
as Miss Cully, Old Black Woman (Uncredited)A newlywed tries to deal with her troubled stepchild.
Movie page
The Golden Bed
as Boarding House Maid (Uncredited)Femme fatale Flora marries a titled European to save the family planation. Her husband and a...
Movie page
The Thoroughbred
as SacharineUnemployed jockey Tod Taylor gets a huge break when he is hired by Matt Riley. Within weeks,...
Movie page
The Lightning Rider
as MammyA bandit known as The Black Mask is terrorizing the countryside around the California border...
Movie page
The Narrow Street
as EasterSimon Haldane works in the office of the Faulkner Iron Works, but he has been raised by his two...
Movie page
The Pagan Lady
as Carla the ServantDot starts out as a bartender in Havana when in walks Dingo Mike (Charles Bickford) and orders...
Movie page
The Children Pay
as UncreditedWhat will become of the Children in a home divided....
Movie page
Heaven on Earth
as Voodoo SueA young boy finds out that the man he thought was his father actually killed his real father,...
Movie page
Jungle Mystery
as Native Woman in Stockade (Uncredited)In Africa, two hunters meet a girl and her father who are searching for her lost brother. Their...
Movie page
Who's Your Father?
as Black Mother (uncredited)This comedy starts with the rescue by a cowboy's dog of a baby that is floating down a gorge...
Movie page
His Musical Sneeze
as Maid (uncredited)A young man goes into the woods to hunt rabbits, and winds up getting mixed up with a dog, a...
Movie page
The Carnation Kid
as The Maid (Uncredited)It's a case of mistaken identity in this comedy that centers around a country bumpkin mistaken...
Movie page