Rex Ingram

Born: 1895-10-20

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. He went to Hollywood as a young man where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), starring Elmo Lincoln. He made his (uncredited) screen debut in that film and had many other small roles, usually as a generic black native, such as in the Tarzan films. With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version), The Thief of Bagdad (1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943). From 1929, he also appeared on stage, making his debut on Broadway. He appeared in more than a dozen Broadway productions, with his final role coming in Kwamina in 1961. 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. Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act in 1948. Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He served just ten months of his sentence, but the incident had a serious effect on his career for the next six years. In 1962, he became the first African-American actor to be hired for a contract role on a soap opera, when he appeared on The Brighter Day. He had other work in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Rex Ingram died of a heart attack at the age of 73. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]


See
Placeholder

as Bit Part (uncredited)
Released: 1956-10-05

Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon...

Movie page
See!

The Thief of Bagdad

as Djinn
Released: 1940-12-25

When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces...

Movie page

The Ten Commandments

as Israelite Slave (uncredited)
Released: 1923-11-23

The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his...

Movie page

Sahara

as Sgt. Major Tambul
Released: 1943-09-22

Sergeant Joe Gunn and his tank crew pick up five British soldiers, a Frenchman and a Sudanese...

Movie page

Elmer Gantry

as Preacher of Black Congregation (uncredited)
Released: 1960-07-07

When hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer, a...

Movie page

The King of Kings

as (uncredited)
Released: 1927-04-19

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In...

Movie page

The Talk of the Town

as Tilney
Released: 1942-08-20

When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, political activist Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson and...

Movie page

Escort West

as Nelson Walker
Released: 1959-01-23

Seeking a new place to call home, former Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and...

Movie page

Moonrise

as Mose
Released: 1948-10-01

Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until...

Movie page

Hoola Boola

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-06-27

Jim Dandy lands on a tropical island and falls in love with a beautiful maiden. Soon a tribe of...

Movie page

Journey to Shiloh

as Jacob
Released: 1968-05-10

At the beginning of the Civil War, seven friends embark on a cross-country journey in order to...

Movie page

Cabin in the Sky

as Lucius / Lucifer Jr.
Released: 1943-04-09

When compulsive gambler Little Joe Jackson dies in a drunken fight, he awakens in purgatory,...

Movie page

God's Little Acre

as Uncle Felix
Released: 1958-09-23

In the 1950s, a poor Georgia cotton farmer and his sons search for the gold presumably buried on...

Movie page

Congo Crossing

as Dr. Leopold Gorman
Released: 1956-07-01

Congotanga, West Africa, has no extradition laws; the government is controlled by foreign...

Movie page

Hurry Sundown

as Prof. Thurlow
Released: 1967-02-09

Following the Second World War, a northern cannery combine negotiates for the purchase of a...

Movie page

Tarzan of the Apes

as (uncredited)
Released: 1918-01-27

A female ape takes to mothering the orphaned boy (Tarzan) and raises him over the course of many...

Movie page

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

as Jim
Released: 1939-02-10

Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes...

Movie page

Adventure

as Preacher (unconfirmed)
Released: 1945-12-28

A rough and tumble man of the sea falls for a meek librarian.

Movie page

Watusi

as Umbopa
Released: 1959-03-25

Alan Quartermain's son comes to Africa to find the treasure his father was unable to bring home.

Movie page

Anna Lucasta

as Joe Lucasta
Released: 1958-11-01

Anna Lucasta has been walking the streets in San Diego since being thrown out of home, at 19, by...

Movie page

The Four Feathers

as Fuzzy Wuzzy Native
Released: 1929-06-01

An Englishman (Richard Arlen) fights in the Sudan after receiving white feathers of cowardice...

Movie page

Dark Waters

as Pearson Jackson
Released: 1944-11-21

Leslie Calvin, the sole survivor of a submarine accident, goes to her relatives in order to...

Movie page

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

as Sukulu Chieftain
Released: 1955-02-16

Hunters trespass into Sukulu country, where animals are sacred, posing as photographers.

Movie page

A Thousand and One Nights

as Giant
Released: 1945-07-20

On the run after being found sweet-talking the Sultan's daughter, Aladdin comes upon a lamp...

Movie page

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1961-05-24

A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life,...

Movie page

The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1973-01-01

Movie page

Fired Wife

as Charles
Released: 1943-09-04

A Broadway producer's Girl Friday must make sure that her recent marriage is kept secret. If it...

Movie page

The Emperor Jones

as Court Crier
Released: 1933-09-29

Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and, through...

Movie page

Your Cheatin' Heart

as Teetot
Released: 1964-11-04

The story of the country and western singer Hank Williams.

Movie page

The Green Pastures

as De Lawd / Adam / Hezdrel
Released: 1936-08-01

God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are...

Movie page

Desire in the Dust

as Burt Crane
Released: 1960-10-10

Lonnie Wilson returns to small southern hometown after spending six years on the chain-gang for...

Movie page

John Henry and the Inky-Poo

as Narrator / John Henry (voice)
Released: 1946-09-06

In this Puppetoon animated short film (an Academy Award Best Short Subject, Cartoons nominee),...

Movie page

The Gay Knighties

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-08-22

A Puppetoon by George Pal.

Movie page

Shoe Shine Jasper

as (voice)
Released: 1947-02-28

George Pal shines a shoes while fairy godmother visits him.

Movie page

Harlem After Midnight

as uncredited
Released: 1934-01-01

Gangsters in Harlem make plans to commit a kidnapping.

Movie page

The Rifleman

as Thaddeus
First aired: 1958-09-30

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas...

TV Show page

Gunsmoke

as Juba
First aired: 1955-09-10

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman...

TV Show page

Climax!

as Petraca
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

TV Show page

The Bill Cosby Show

as George
First aired: 1969-09-14

The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday...

TV Show page

Black Saddle

as Alex Booth
First aired: 1959-01-10

Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44...

TV Show page

Daktari

as Natoma
First aired: 1966-01-11

Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The...

TV Show page

Daktari

as Chief Makubu
First aired: 1966-01-11

Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The...

TV Show page

Branded

as Hannibal - Valet
First aired: 1965-01-24

Branded is an American Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by...

TV Show page

Sam Benedict

as uncredited
First aired: 1962-09-15

Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The...

TV Show page

Cowboy in Africa

as Nhinga
First aired: 1967-09-11

Cowboy in Africa was an American Broadcasting Company television series produced during...

TV Show page

Cowboy in Africa

as Dr. Tom Merar
First aired: 1967-09-11

Cowboy in Africa was an American Broadcasting Company television series produced during...

TV Show page