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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0603646
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1913548
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Filmography (Movies)
The Young Nurses
Character:Old Man
Release Date:01/03/1973
Watermelon Man
Character:Joe the Counterman
Release Date:27/05/1970
The Comic
Character:Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
Release Date:19/11/1969
Spider Baby
Character:Messenger
Release Date:24/12/1967
Enter Laughing
Character:Subway Rider
Release Date:25/02/1967
The Patsy
Character:Barber Shop Porter
Release Date:24/06/1964
Rockin' the Blues
Character:Self
Release Date:11/10/1956
Sky Dragon
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:27/04/1949
Come On, Cowboy!
Character:Mantan
Release Date:01/01/1949
The Feathered Serpent
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:19/12/1948
The Golden Eye
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:29/08/1948
She's Too Mean for Me
Character:
Release Date:23/08/1948
The Shanghai Chest
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:11/07/1948
The Dreamer
Character:
Release Date:04/04/1948
Docks of New Orleans
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:21/03/1948
What a Guy
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1948
The Chinese Ring
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:06/12/1947
Return of Mandy's Husband
Character:Mantan
Release Date:22/05/1947
The Trap
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:30/11/1946
Mantan Runs for Mayor
Character:
Release Date:23/08/1946
Shadows Over Chinatown
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:27/06/1946
Tall, Tan and Terrific
Character:Mantan Moreland
Release Date:26/06/1946
Dark Alibi
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:25/05/1946
Riverboat Rhythm
Character:Mantan
Release Date:16/02/1946
Mantan Messes Up
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1946
The Spider
Character:Harry
Release Date:01/12/1945
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Character:Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:29/11/1945
Captain Tugboat Annie
Character:Pinto
Release Date:17/11/1945
The Shanghai Cobra
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:29/09/1945
The Scarlet Clue
Character:Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
Release Date:11/05/1945
The Jade Mask
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:26/01/1945
Bowery to Broadway
Character:Alabam
Release Date:03/11/1944
Black Magic
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:19/08/1944
South of Dixie
Character:The Porter
Release Date:23/06/1944
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Character:Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
Release Date:20/05/1944
Pin Up Girl
Character:Train Station Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:25/04/1944
Moon Over Las Vegas
Character:Porter
Release Date:01/04/1944
See Here, Private Hargrove
Character:Train Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:18/03/1944
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
Character:Birmingham Brown
Release Date:14/02/1944
Chip Off the Old Block
Character:Porter
Release Date:01/02/1944
Swing Fever
Character:Woody
Release Date:01/11/1943
Swing Fever
Character:Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
Release Date:01/11/1943
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
Character:Porter
Release Date:22/10/1943
Revenge of the Zombies
Character:Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
Release Date:17/09/1943
Melody Parade
Character:Skidmore
Release Date:27/08/1943
We've Never Been Licked
Character:Willie
Release Date:29/07/1943
Sarong Girl
Character:Maxwell
Release Date:11/06/1943
Hit the Ice
Character:Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
Release Date:02/06/1943
He Hired the Boss
Character:Bootblack
Release Date:02/04/1943
Slightly Dangerous
Character:Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
Release Date:01/04/1943
Cabin in the Sky
Character:First Idea Man
Release Date:24/03/1943
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
Character:Eustace Smith
Release Date:29/01/1943
Andy Hardy's Double Life
Character:Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
Release Date:01/12/1942
Eyes in the Night
Character:Alistair
Release Date:16/10/1942
Girl Trouble
Character:Flint's Chauffeur
Release Date:09/10/1942
Phantom Killer
Character:Nicodemus
Release Date:02/10/1942
A-Haunting We Will Go
Character:Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:07/08/1942
Footlight Serenade
Character:Amos
Release Date:01/08/1942
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
Character:Lightnin'
Release Date:26/06/1942
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
Character:Schenectady Washington
Release Date:09/05/1942
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Character:Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
Release Date:01/05/1942
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
Character:Horatio B.Fitz Washington
Release Date:27/03/1942
Professor Creeps
Character:Washington
Release Date:28/02/1942
Lucky Ghost
Character:Washington
Release Date:10/02/1942
Law of the Jungle
Character:Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
Release Date:06/02/1942
Treat 'Em Rough
Character:'Snake-Eyes'
Release Date:30/01/1942
Four Jacks and a Jill
Character:Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
Release Date:23/01/1942
Freckles Comes Home
Character:Jeff the porter
Release Date:02/01/1942
Marry the Boss's Daughter
Character:Diner Cook
Release Date:28/11/1941
Birth of the Blues
Character:Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
Release Date:07/11/1941
It Started with Eve
Character:Railway Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:26/09/1941
Let's Go Collegiate
Character:Jeff
Release Date:12/09/1941
Dressed to Kill
Character:Rusty
Release Date:08/08/1941
Cracked Nuts
Character:Burgess
Release Date:02/07/1941
The Gang's All Here
Character:Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
Release Date:11/06/1941
King of the Zombies
Character:Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
Release Date:14/05/1941
Sign of the Wolf
Character:Ben
Release Date:25/03/1941
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
Character:Roy
Release Date:24/03/1941
Sleepers West
Character:Porter (uncredited)
Release Date:14/03/1941
You're Out of Luck
Character:Jeff Jefferson
Release Date:20/01/1941
Up Jumped the Devil
Character:Washington
Release Date:01/01/1941
Four Shall Die
Character:Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
Release Date:15/10/1940
Drums of the Desert
Character:Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
Release Date:06/10/1940
While Thousands Cheer
Character:Nash
Release Date:15/09/1940
Up in the Air
Character:Jeff Jefferson
Release Date:09/09/1940
Laughing at Danger
Character:Jefferson
Release Date:12/08/1940
Maryland
Character:
Release Date:19/07/1940
On the Spot
Character:Jefferson White
Release Date:11/06/1940
Girl in 313
Character:Porter
Release Date:31/05/1940
Viva Cisco Kid
Character:Memphis - The Cook
Release Date:12/04/1940
Star Dust
Character:Waiter on Train
Release Date:06/04/1940
Millionaire Playboy
Character:Bellhop
Release Date:14/03/1940
Chasing Trouble
Character:Thomas H. Jefferson
Release Date:30/01/1940
City of Chance
Character:Anxious Man
Release Date:13/01/1940
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Character:Robbins
Release Date:11/01/1940
Irish Luck
Character:Jefferson
Release Date:22/08/1939
Riders of the Frontier
Character:Chappie, the Cook
Release Date:15/08/1939
Tell No Tales
Character:Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
Release Date:12/06/1939
One Dark Night
Character:Samson Brown
Release Date:02/01/1939
Gang Smashers
Character:Gloomy
Release Date:30/12/1938
Next Time I Marry
Character:Tilby
Release Date:09/12/1938
Frontier Scout
Character:Norris Family Butler
Release Date:16/09/1938
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
Character:Bill Blake
Release Date:01/05/1938
Spirit of Youth
Character:Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
Release Date:01/04/1938
Harlem on the Prairie
Character:Mistletoe
Release Date:09/12/1937
The Green Pastures
Character:Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
Release Date:01/08/1936
That's the Spirit
Character:Night Watchman
Release Date:15/04/1933
Television Appearances
Images
