Mantan Moreland

Acting · 0.5 popularity

Age

123

Movies

108

Born: September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973
From: Monroe, Louisiana, USA

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'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.

Works

108 films

Spider Baby

19676.9

The Patsy

19646.2

See Here, Private Hargrove

19446.5

Girl Trouble

19428.3

Swing Fever

19436.0

Black Magic

19447.1

Millionaire Playboy

19404.5

Dressed to Kill

19416.3

Eyes in the Night

19426.1

Tarzan's New York Adventure

19426.4

The Shanghai Cobra

19456.0

The Comic

19696.1

The Trap

19466.8

Slightly Dangerous

19436.0

Hit the Ice

19436.0

Watermelon Man

19706.3

King of the Zombies

19415.2

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

19416.5

Sign of the Wolf

19417.0

Cracked Nuts

19417.0

A-Haunting We Will Go

19426.2

Cabin in the Sky

19436.5

Captain Tugboat Annie

19458.0

The Green Pastures

19366.3

The Shanghai Chest

19486.6

It Started with Eve

19417.2

Pin Up Girl

19446.3

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat

19446.5

The Gang's All Here

19415.4

Ebony Parade

20267.0

Sleepers West

19416.4

Chip Off the Old Block

19447.0

Enter Laughing

19674.8

Maryland

19406.5

Four Jacks and a Jill

19426.5

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk

19405.3

Docks of New Orleans

19486.1

Andy Hardy's Double Life

19425.0

We've Never Been Licked

19436.5

Bowery to Broadway

194410.0

South of Dixie

194410.0

The Dreamer

19487.0

Tell No Tales

19395.4

This Is the Life

19446.0

City of Chance

19405.6

Birth of the Blues

19416.2

Shadows Over Chinatown

19466.2

Next Time I Marry

19387.2

What a Guy

19487.0

The Chinese Ring

19475.1

Viva Cisco Kid

19406.4

Law of the Jungle

19425.6

Revenge of the Zombies

19435.4

Four Shall Die

19408.0

The Scarlet Clue

19456.0

Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher

19434.6

Girl in 313

19405.6

Chasing Trouble

19405.5

Moon Over Las Vegas

194410.0

Up in the Air

19405.8

The Golden Eye

19485.6

Charlie Chan in the Secret Service

19446.1

The Feathered Serpent

19486.1

The Spider

19455.6

The Young Nurses

19734.0

Sky Dragon

19498.0

Dark Alibi

19466.3

Footlight Serenade

19426.5

The Jade Mask

19456.2

Tall, Tan and Terrific

19467.0

One Dark Night

19398.0

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

19425.2

On the Spot

19405.8

She Wouldn't Say Yes

19456.4

Freckles Comes Home

19425.8

Mr. Washington Goes to Town

19425.5

Frontier Scout

19386.0

Rockin' the Blues

19566.0

Mantan Messes Up

19468.0

She's Too Mean for Me

194810.0

Marry the Boss's Daughter

19419.0

Star Dust

19405.7

Treat 'Em Rough

19428.0

Irish Luck

19396.4

Lucky Ghost

19425.4

Sarong Girl

19437.0

Let's Go Collegiate

19415.4

He Hired the Boss

19435.3

Harlem on the Prairie

19377.5

Riverboat Rhythm

19466.3

Phantom Killer

19425.3

Drums of the Desert

19405.5

Melody Parade

19438.0

Come On, Cowboy!

19497.0

Spirit of Youth

19386.1

Riders of the Frontier

19397.0

Up Jumped the Devil

194110.0

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost

19424.8

Laughing at Danger

19409.0

Two-Gun Man from Harlem

19384.8

Return of Mandy's Husband

19477.0

You're Out of Luck

19416.5

Gang Smashers

19389.0

You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith

19433.5

Professor Creeps

19427.0

Mantan Runs for Mayor

19468.0

While Thousands Cheer

19407.0

That's the Spirit

19335.7