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Mantan Moreland
Acting
Biography
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'…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
Mantan Moreland's Filmography
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The Young Nurses
as Old Man
Watermelon Man
as Joe the Counterman
The Comic
as Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
Spider Baby
as Messenger
Enter Laughing
as Subway Rider
The Patsy
as Barber Shop Porter
Rockin' the Blues
as Self
Sky Dragon
as Birmingham Brown
Come On, Cowboy!
as Mantan
The Feathered Serpent
as Birmingham Brown
The Golden Eye
as Birmingham Brown
She's Too Mean for Me
The Shanghai Chest
as Birmingham Brown
The Dreamer
Docks of New Orleans
as Birmingham Brown
What a Guy
The Chinese Ring
as Birmingham Brown
Return of Mandy's Husband
as Mantan
The Trap
as Birmingham Brown
Mantan Runs for Mayor
Shadows Over Chinatown
as Birmingham Brown
Tall, Tan and Terrific
as Mantan Moreland
Dark Alibi
as Birmingham Brown
Riverboat Rhythm
as Mantan
Mantan Messes Up
as Mantan
The Spider
as Harry
She Wouldn't Say Yes
as Porter (uncredited)
Captain Tugboat Annie
as Pinto
The Shanghai Cobra
as Birmingham Brown
The Scarlet Clue
as Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
The Jade Mask
as Birmingham Brown
Bowery to Broadway
as Alabam
Black Magic
as Birmingham Brown
South of Dixie
as The Porter
This Is the Life
as Porter (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
as Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
Pin Up Girl
as Train Station Porter (uncredited)
Moon Over Las Vegas
as Porter
See Here, Private Hargrove
as Train Porter (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
as Birmingham Brown
Chip Off the Old Block
as Porter
Swing Fever
as Woody
Swing Fever
as Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
as Porter
Revenge of the Zombies
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
Melody Parade
as Skidmore
We've Never Been Licked
as Willie
Sarong Girl
as Maxwell
Hit the Ice
as Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
He Hired the Boss
as Bootblack
Slightly Dangerous
as Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
Cabin in the Sky
as First Idea Man
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
as Eustace Smith
Andy Hardy's Double Life
as Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
Eyes in the Night
as Alistair
Girl Trouble
as Flint's Chauffeur
Phantom Killer
as Nicodemus
A-Haunting We Will Go
as Porter (uncredited)
A-Haunting We Will Go
Footlight Serenade
as Amos
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
as Lightnin'
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
as Schenectady Washington
Tarzan's New York Adventure
as Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
as Horatio B.Fitz Washington
Professor Creeps
as Washington
Lucky Ghost
as Washington
Law of the Jungle
as Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
No Poster
Treat 'Em Rough
as 'Snake-Eyes'
Four Jacks and a Jill
as Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
Freckles Comes Home
as Jeff the porter
No Poster
Marry the Boss's Daughter
as Diner Cook
Birth of the Blues
as Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
It Started with Eve
as Railway Porter (uncredited)
Let's Go Collegiate
as Jeff
Dressed to Kill
as Rusty
Cracked Nuts
as Burgess
The Gang's All Here
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
King of the Zombies
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
Sign of the Wolf
as Ben
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
as Roy
Sleepers West
as Porter (uncredited)
You're Out of Luck
as Jeff Jefferson
Up Jumped the Devil
as Washington
Four Shall Die
as Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
Drums of the Desert
as Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
While Thousands Cheer
as Nash
Up in the Air
as Jeff Jefferson
Laughing at Danger
as Jefferson
Maryland
On the Spot
as Jefferson White
Girl in 313
as Porter
Viva Cisco Kid
as Memphis - The Cook
Star Dust
as Waiter on Train
Millionaire Playboy
as Bellhop
Chasing Trouble
as Thomas H. Jefferson
City of Chance
as Anxious Man
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
as Robbins
Irish Luck
as Jefferson
Riders of the Frontier
as Chappie, the Cook
Tell No Tales
as Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
One Dark Night
as Samson Brown
No Poster
Gang Smashers
as Gloomy
Next Time I Marry
as Tilby
Frontier Scout
as Norris Family Butler
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
as Bill Blake
Spirit of Youth
as Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
Harlem on the Prairie
as Mistletoe
The Green Pastures
as Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
That's the Spirit
as Night Watchman
Ebony Parade
as Mantan