Mantan Moreland
Acting
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.
The Young Nurses
Old Man
Watermelon Man
Joe the Counterman
The Comic
Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
Spider Baby
Messenger
Enter Laughing
Subway Rider
The Patsy
Barber Shop Porter
Rockin' the Blues
Self
Sky Dragon
Birmingham Brown
Come On, Cowboy!
Mantan
The Feathered Serpent
Birmingham Brown
The Golden Eye
Birmingham Brown
She's Too Mean for Me
The Shanghai Chest
Birmingham Brown
The Dreamer
Docks of New Orleans
Birmingham Brown
What a Guy
The Chinese Ring
Birmingham Brown
Return of Mandy's Husband
Mantan
The Trap
Birmingham Brown
Mantan Runs for Mayor
Shadows Over Chinatown
Birmingham Brown
Tall, Tan and Terrific
Mantan Moreland
Dark Alibi
Birmingham Brown
Riverboat Rhythm
Mantan
Mantan Messes Up
Mantan
The Spider
Harry
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Porter (uncredited)
Captain Tugboat Annie
Pinto
The Shanghai Cobra
Birmingham Brown
The Scarlet Clue
Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
The Jade Mask
Birmingham Brown
Bowery to Broadway
Alabam
Black Magic
Birmingham Brown
South of Dixie
The Porter
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
Pin Up Girl
Train Station Porter (uncredited)
Moon Over Las Vegas
Porter
See Here, Private Hargrove
Train Porter (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
Birmingham Brown
Chip Off the Old Block
Porter
Swing Fever
Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
Swing Fever
Woody
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
Hit the Ice
Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
He Hired the Boss
Bootblack
Slightly Dangerous
Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
Cabin in the Sky
First Idea Man
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
Eustace Smith
Andy Hardy's Double Life
Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
Eyes in the Night
Alistair
Girl Trouble
Flint's Chauffeur
Phantom Killer
Nicodemus
A-Haunting We Will Go
Porter (uncredited)
Footlight Serenade
Amos
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
Lightnin'
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
Schenectady Washington
Tarzan's New York Adventure
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)
It Started with Eve
Railway Porter (uncredited)
Let's Go Collegiate
Jeff
Dressed to Kill
Rusty
Cracked Nuts
Burgess
The Gang's All Here
Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
King of the Zombies
Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
Sign of the Wolf
Ben
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
Roy
Sleepers West
Porter (uncredited)
You're Out of Luck
Jeff Jefferson
Up Jumped the Devil
Washington
Four Shall Die
Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
Drums of the Desert
Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
While Thousands Cheer
Nash
Up in the Air
Jeff Jefferson
Laughing at Danger
Jefferson
Maryland
On the Spot
Jefferson White
Girl in 313
Porter
Viva Cisco Kid
Memphis - The Cook
Star Dust
Waiter on Train
Millionaire Playboy
Bellhop
Chasing Trouble
Thomas H. Jefferson
City of Chance
Anxious Man
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Robbins
Irish Luck
Jefferson
Riders of the Frontier
Chappie, the Cook
Tell No Tales
Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
One Dark Night
Samson Brown
Gang Smashers
Gloomy
Next Time I Marry
Tilby
Frontier Scout
Norris Family Butler
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
Bill Blake
Spirit of Youth
Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
Harlem on the Prairie
Mistletoe
The Green Pastures
Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
That's the Spirit
Night Watchman