African-American actors:
by mattrcampbell | created - 24 Aug 2019 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicList of African-American actors/actress's:
1. Tim Moore
Actor | The Amos 'n Andy Show
Although Tim Moore will forever be known as "The Kingfish" in the pioneering series The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), he was actually far better known for his career on the stage and as a comedian in vaudeville than he was for his film and television work. In fact, he had only made (as far as is known)...
1887-1958
2. Clarence Muse
Actor | Shadow of a Doubt
Clarence Muse was born on October 14, 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Clarence Edouard Muse. He was an actor, known for Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and The Black Stallion (1979). He was married to Irene Ena Kellman, Willabelle Burch West and Ophelia Belle Labertier. He died on October 13, 1979 in ...
1889-1979
3. Etta McDaniel
Actress | The Great Man's Lady
Etta McDaniel was born on December 1, 1890 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for The Great Man's Lady (1941), What a Man! (1944) and The Pittsburgh Kid (1941). She died on January 13, 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1890-1946
4. Ernest Whitman
Actor | The Green Pastures
Ernest Whitman was born on February 21, 1893 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Green Pastures (1936), Road to Zanzibar (1941) and Maryland (1940). He died on August 5, 1954 in Hollywood, California, USA.
1893-1954
5. Charles R. Moore
Actor | Sullivan's Travels
Charles R. Moore was born on April 23, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Little Foxes (1941) and The Palm Beach Story (1942). He died on July 20, 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1893-1947
6. Hattie McDaniel
Actress | Gone with the Wind
After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George ...
1893-1952
7. Spencer Williams
Actor | Juke Joint
American actor, writer, director, and producer whose early pioneering work in African-American or "race" films was eclipsed in fame by his role as one of the title characters in the equally pioneering1950s sitcom The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951). A native of Vidalia, Louisiana, Williams broke into the ...
1893-1969
8. Rex Ingram
Actor | God's Little Acre
A Corsicana native, Rex (Clifford) Ingram was the son of Mack and Mamie Ingram. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in medicine before launching a brilliant acting career which spanned 50 years. Ingram made his screen debut during the silent era in Tarzan of the Apes (1918). He ...
1895-1969
9. Bill Walker
Actor | Big Jake
Bill Walker was born on July 1, 1896 in Pendleton, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Big Jake (1971), Tick, Tick, Tick (1970) and Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961). He was married to Peggy Cartwright. He died on January 27, 1992 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
1896-1992
10. Amanda Randolph
Actress | The Amos 'n Andy Show
Amanda Randolph was born on September 2, 1896 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), The Danny Thomas Hour (1967) and The Danny Thomas Show (1953). She was married to Harry Hansberry. She died on August 24, 1967 in Duarte, California, USA.
1896-1967
11. Ethel Waters
Actress | Cabin in the Sky
The child of a teenage rape victim, Ethel Waters grew up in the slums of Philadelphia and neighboring cities, seldom living anywhere for more than a few weeks at a time. "No one raised me, " she recollected, "I just ran wild." She excelled not only at looking after herself, but also at singing and ...
1896-1977
12. Paul Robeson
Actor | Show Boat
This handsome, eloquent and highly charismatic actor became one of the foremost interpreters of Eugene O'Neill's plays and one of the most treasured names in song during the first half of the twentieth century. He also courted disdain and public controversy for most of his career as a staunch Cold ...
1898-1976
13. Lillian Randolph
Actress | It's a Wonderful Life
Lillian Randolph was born on December 14, 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) and Magic (1978). She was married to Garcia Delano "Gossie" McKee and James Lott . She died on September 12, 1980 in Los Angeles, ...
1898-1980
14. Oscar Polk
Actor | Gone with the Wind
Oscar Polk was born on December 25, 1899 in Marianna, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), The Green Pastures (1936) and Reap the Wild Wind (1942). He was married to Ivy V. Polk. He died on January 4, 1949 in New York City, New York, USA.
1899-1949
15. Jester Hairston
Actor | The Alamo
Composer, songwriter, conductor, singer, and actor Jester Hairston was educated at Tufts University, Juilliard, and the University of the Pacific (hon. Mus.D.). He acted on radio and television besides on film, and played Leroy on the "Amos 'n Andy" radio series for 15 years. He directed the ...
1901-2000
16. Louis Armstrong
Actor | High Society
Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined ...
1901-1971
17. Everett Brown
Actor | Gone with the Wind
Everett Brown was born on January 1, 1902 in Smith County, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), Danger Island (1931) and Tim Tyler's Luck (1937). He died on October 14, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1902-1953
18. Stepin Fetchit
Actor | Judge Priest
Stepin Fetchit remains one of the most controversial movie actors in American history. While he was undoubtedly one of the most talented physical comedians ever to do his schtick on the Big Screen, achieving the rare status of being a character actor/supporting player who actually achieved ...
1902-1985
19. James Baskett
Actor | Song of the South
James Baskett was born on February 16, 1904 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as James Franklin Baskett. He was an actor, known for Song of the South (1946), Revenge of the Zombies (1943) and Policy Man (1938). He was married to Margaret. He died on July 9, 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1904-1948
20. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The son of a minstrel and circus tightrope walker, Eddie Anderson developed a gravel voice early in life which would become his trademark to fame. He joined his older brother Cornelius as members of "The Three Black Aces" during his vaudeville years, singing for pennies in the hotel lobby. He ...
1905-1977
21. Fred 'Snowflake' Toones
Actor | Out of Singapore
Toones is one of the most "colorful" character faces in B-Westerns and cliffhangers. He appeared in over 200 films between 1928 and 1951; and during 1936 and 1947, Toones often worked under contract for Republic Pictures, appearing in about 40 of its films.
Toones first appeared as a porter in The ...
1906-1962
22. Josephine Baker
Soundtrack | Zouzou
Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, MO, in 1906 to Carrie McDonald, a laundress, and Eddie Carson, a musician. Her early life hinted at her future career. She first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis for nickels and dimes. Later she became a chorus girl on...
1906-1975
23. Dudley Dickerson
Actor | Hold That Lion!
Dudley Dickerson was born on November 27, 1906 in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Hold That Lion! (1947), The Green Pastures (1936) and Vagabond Loafers (1949). He died on September 23, 1968 in Lynwood, California, USA.
1906-1968
24. Canada Lee
Actor | Lifeboat
Lee played Danny (opposite of Hilda Simms, who played Anna) in Anna Lucasta on Broadway in 1944. Anna Lucasta was the first non-black written play performed by an all black cast on Broadway. He became an actor after careers as a jockey, boxer and musician. Lee was a civil rights activist, following...
1907-1952
25. Alvin Childress
Actor | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Alvin Childress was born on September 10, 1907 in Meridian, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Anna Lucasta (1958) and Darktown Strutters (1975). He was married to Sophronia Elizabeth Graham and Alice Childress. He died on April 19, 1986 in Inglewood, ...
1907-1986
26. Cab Calloway
Soundtrack | The Blues Brothers
Bandleader, songwriter ("Minnie the Moocher", "Are You Hep to That Jive?"), composer, singer, actor and author, educated at Crane College. While studying law, he sang with the band The Alabamians, and took over the group in 1928. He led The Missourians orchestra, then organized and led his own ...
1907-1994
27. Helen Martin
Actress | Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Helen Martin was born on July 23, 1909 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), Death Wish (1974) and Bulworth (1998). She died on March 25, 2000 in Monterey, California, USA.
1909-2000
28. Robert Earl Jones
Actor | The Sting
Robert Earl Jones was born on February 3, 1910 in Senatobia, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sting (1973), Sleepaway Camp (1983) and Witness (1985). He was married to Ruth Connolly, Jumelle P. Jones and Ruth Williams. He died on September 7, 2006 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
1910-2007
29. Butterfly McQueen
Actress | Gone with the Wind
Thelma McQueen attended public school in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from high school in Long Island, New York. She studied dance with Katherine Dunham, Geoffrey Holder, and Janet Collins. She danced with the Venezuela Jones Negro Youth Group. The "Butterfly" stage name, which does describe her ...
1911-1995
30. Scatman Crothers
Actor | The Shining
Scatman Crothers was born Benjamin Sherman Crothers on May 23, 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Songwriter ("Dearest One"), actor, composer, singer, comedian, and guitarist who, after high school, appeared in nightclubs, hotels, and films, and on television. He made many records, including his own ...
1910-1986
31. Rosetta LeNoire
Actress | Family Matters
Born Rosetta Olive Barton, Rosetta LeNoire was the goddaughter of famed tap dancer "Bojangles" Bill Robinson. She was in the landmark all-black version of "Macbeth," directed by Orson Welles in the 1930s. Former president Bill Clinton presented her with the National Medal of the Arts in 1999. ...
1911-2002
32. Willie Best
Actor | The Hidden Hand
One of the hard-working, unappreciated African-American actors of Hollywood's "Golden Era" who produced good work with what he was given. He starred alongside some of film's great comedians including the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy and three films with Shirley Temple. Best is ...
1913-1962
33. Roy Glenn
Actor | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Roy Glenn was born on June 3, 1914 in Pittsburg, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Lydia Bailey (1952). He was married to Pauline (Lilla) Fractious. He died on March 12, 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1914-1971
34. Woody Strode
Actor | Spartacus
An athlete turned actor, Strode was a top-notch decathlete and a football star at UCLA. He became part of Hollywood lore after meeting director John Ford and becoming a part of the Ford "family," appearing in four Ford motion pictures. Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with ...
1914-1994
35. Juanita Moore
Actress | Imitation of Life
African American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early 1950s, a time in which few black people were given an opportunity to act in major studio films. Fortunately Moore's roles began improving as Hollywood developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959 she ...
1914-2014
36. Davis Roberts
Actor | Westworld
Davis Roberts was born on March 7, 1917 in Mobile, Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Westworld (1973), Star Trek (1966) and What's Happening!! (1976). He died on July 18, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
1917-1993
37. Ella Fitzgerald
Soundtrack | Sphere
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...
1917-1996
38. Lena Horne
Soundtrack | Cabin in the Sky
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...
1917-2010
39. Isabel Sanford
Actress | The Jeffersons
Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She made numerous guest appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of ...
1917-2006
40. Clarice Taylor
Actress | Play Misty for Me
Clarice Taylor was born on September 20, 1917 in Buckingham County, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for Play Misty for Me (1971), The Cosby Show (1984) and Smoke (1995). She was married to Maxwell Glanville. She died on May 30, 2011 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
1917-2011
41. Ossie Davis
Actor | Do the Right Thing
Ossie Davis was born on December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). He was married to Ruby Dee. He died on February 4, 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
1917-2005
42. Nipsey Russell
Actor | The Wiz
Nipsey Russell was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1918. He got his start in Rock and Roll Review and other music revues in the 1950s. In the 1960s Russell achieved his first major role as Officer Anderson in Car 54, Where Are You? (1961). After being on the show for a year, Russell was a mainstay on ...
1918-2005
43. Joe Seneca
Actor | The Blob
Prior to his illustrious Hollywood and television careers, Joe Seneca (né Joel McGhee) belonged to a top flight singing group - The Three Riffs - that worked the better supper clubs in New York City. He was also a fine songwriter and had a big hit with "Talk to Me" sung by Little Willie John.
1919-1996
44. Nat 'King' Cole
Soundtrack | The Nat King Cole Show
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and ...
1919-1965
45. Beah Richards
Actress | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Beah Richards left her native Vicksburg, Mississippi, for New York City in 1950. She would not acquire a significant role on stage until 1955,when she appeared in the off-Broadway show "Take a Giant Step" convincingly portraying an 84-year-old grandmother without using theatrical makeup. In 1962 ...
1920-2000
46. LaWanda Page
Actress | Friday
Best known for her role as Aunt Esther Anderson on "Sanford And Son", she appeared in many films including "Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood" (1996), "Friday" (1995), "The Legend of Dolemite" (1994), "West From North Goes South" (1993), "The Meteor Man" (1993...
1920-2002
47. Esther Rolle
Actress | Driving Miss Daisy
Best known for the role of Florida Evans on the 1970s sitcoms Maude (1972) and Good Times (1974), African-American actress Esther Rolle proved to be as spirited and iron-willed off-camera as well. The gap-toothed actress with the gravelly voice was born in Pompano Beach, Florida, the 10th child of ...
1920-1998
48. Roscoe Lee Browne
Actor | The Cowboys
He was a master class in cerebral eloquence and audience command...and although his dominant playing card in the realm of acting was quite serious and stately, nobody cut a more delightfully dry edge in sitcoms than this gentleman, whose calm yet blistering put-downs often eluded his lesser victims.
...
1922-2007
49. Theresa Merritt
Actress | Billy Madison
Theresa Merritt was born on September 24, 1922 in Newport News, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for Billy Madison (1995), The Wiz (1978) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). She was married to Benjamin Hines. She died on June 12, 1998 in The Bronx, New York, USA.
1922-1998
50. Ruby Dee
Actress | American Gangster
Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961).
She also starred in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Cat People (1982), ...
1922-2014
51. Dorothy Dandridge
Actress | Carmen Jones
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruby Dandridge (née Ruby Jean Butler), an entertainer, and Cyril H. Dandridge, a cabinet maker and minister. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister Vivian Dandridge began performing publicly, usually in ...
1922-1965
52. Redd Foxx
Actor | Sanford and Son
Redd Foxx began doing stand-up comedy on the infamous "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s and 1950s. Foxx was one of the premier "blue humor" comedians. Blue humor was very dirty, too dirty for white audiences. For years his party albums were not available in white record stores. In the 1960s his ...
1922-1991
53. Julius Harris
Actor | Live and Let Die
Prior to breaking into films, Philadelphia native Julius Harris worked as a bouncer in New York City. It was due to his many associations with struggling actors, that on a dare, Harris auditioned for his first role, in the well-received picture Nothing But a Man (1964), in which he played a father ...
1923-2004
54. William Marshall
Actor | Blacula
Dynamic African American leading man and characters actor William Marshall trained in Grand Opera, Broadway and Shakespeare. In films from the 50s and 60s including: Lydia Bailey (1952), Something of Value (1957), To Trap a Spy (1964) and finally known for being in The Boston Strangler (1968) with ...
1924-2003
55. Cicely Tyson
Actress | The Help
Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, New York City, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, who had come from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother Theodosia was a domestic worker and her her father William was a carpenter and painter. Tyson was discovered by a fashion editor at ...
1924-2021
56. Virginia Capers
Actress | Howard the Duck
With plenty of heart and soul, singer/actress Virginia Capers served up loads of music in an entertainment career that spanned several decades. The benevolent, plus-sized talent was born Eliza Virginia Capers on September 22, 1925, in South Carolina and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C...
1925-2004
57. Sammy Davis Jr.
Actor | The Cannonball Run
Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the "greatest living entertainer in the world".
He was born in Harlem, Manhattan, the son of dancer Elvera Davis (née Sanchez) and vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr.. His father was African-American and his mother was of Cuban and African-American ancestry. Davis Jr....
1925-1990
58. Eartha Kitt
Actress | The Emperor's New Groove
An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school...
1927-2008
59. Sidney Poitier
Actor | In the Heat of the Night
Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal ...
1927-2022
60. Harry Belafonte
Actor | Bobby
Harold George Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927 in New York City. He was educated at the New York Dramatic Workshop. He grew up in Jamaica, British West Indies, and did folk-singing in nightclubs and theaters, and on television and records. His debut was at the Village Vanguard in New York. Also,...
1927-2023
61. Rudy Ray Moore
Actor | Dolemite
Rudy Ray Moore was born on March 17, 1927 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Dolemite (1975), The Human Tornado (1976) and Disco Godfather (1979). He died on October 19, 2008 in Akron, Ohio, USA.
1927-2008
62. Brock Peters
Actor | Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Born of African and West Indian ancestry on July 2, 1927 in New York City, Brock Peters set his sights on a show business career early on, at age ten. A product of NYC's famed Music and Arts High School, Peters initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs as he worked his way up from Harlem ...
1927-2005
63. Robert Guillaume
Actor | Benson
Robert Peter Williams Guillaume was an actor from St. Louis, Missouri who was known for playing Rafiki from The Lion King, Benson DuBois from Soap and Benson, and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls. He had five children from two marriages. He passed away in October 24, 2017 due to prostate cancer ...
1927-2017
64. Bernie Hamilton
Actor | Bucktown
Bernie Hamilton was born on June 12, 1928 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Bucktown (1975), The Young One (1960) and Starsky and Hutch (1975). He was married to Maxine King. He died on December 30, 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1928-2008
65. Roxie Roker
Actress | The Jeffersons
Roxie Roker was born on August 28, 1929 in Miami, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for The Jeffersons (1975), ABC Afterschool Specials (1972) and Fantasy Island (1977). She was married to Sy Kravitz. She died on December 2, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1929-1995
66. Mel Stewart
Actor | Tabitha
Mel Stewart was born on September 19, 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Tabitha (1976), Bride of Re-Animator (1990) and Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983). He was married to Annie Dong. He died on February 24, 2002 in Pacifica, California, USA.
1929-2002
67. Moses Gunn
Actor | Shaft
Moses Gunn was born on October 2, 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Rollerball (1975) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986). He was married to Gwendolyn Mumma Landes. He died on December 16, 1993 in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.
1929-1993
68. Susie Garrett
Actress | Wicked Stepmother
Susie Garrett was born on December 29, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Wicked Stepmother (1989), Punky Brewster (1984) and The Jeffersons (1975). She died on May 24, 2002 in Southfield, Michigan, USA.
1929-2002
69. Raymond St. Jacques
Actor | They Live
Tall (6'3"), imposing actor Raymond St. Jacques, who appeared as both hero and villain in hundreds of roles, was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1930, but he and younger sister Barbara were raised in Depression-era New Haven after their parents' divorce. He started writing ...
1930-1990
70. Ray Charles
Actor | The Blues Brothers
A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was ...
1930-2004
71. Whitman Mayo
Actor | Sanford and Son
Noted for portraying characters older than his actual age, Whitman Mayo was in his early 40s in the early 1970s when he first played the sexagenarian "Grady" on "Sandford & Son" -- a role that popularized the expression "Good Goobily Goop!" Nearly thirty years later his "Grady" role had just about ...
1930-2001
72. Ellen Holly
Actress | In the Heat of the Night
Ellen Holly is a retired Black American actress. She was best known for her part as Carla Benari Hall in "One Life to Live" which she played for more than 20 years but she she was more then a soap opera actress.
On Broadway, she showed her versatile acting talent in the various roles she played in "...
1931-2023
73. James Earl Jones
Actor | Rogue One
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...
74. Ivan Dixon
Actor | A Raisin in the Sun
Ivan Dixon was a handsome, mustachioed African-American actor and director who carried a strong, serious nature about his solid frame. He initially earned attention in groundbreaking stage and film work with pronounced themes of social and racial relevance. He would become better known, however, ...
1931-2008
75. Marla Gibbs
Actress | The Jeffersons
Armed with an acid dry wit and a full arsenal of sarcasm and sass, African-American character comedienne Marla Gibbs showed up on 1970s television with a bang in middle age (44). Landing the feisty maid role on the popular ground-breaking CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975), eventually led to her very...
76. Della Reese
Actress | Touched by an Angel
Della began singing in her hometown of Detroit when she was 6 years old. As a teenager, she toured with gospel great Mahalia Jackson and, at the age of 18, she formed the Meditation Singers and became the first performer to take gospel music to the casinos of Las Vegas. She was a vocalist with the ...
1931-2017
77. Lincoln Kilpatrick
Actor | The Omega Man
Lincoln Kilpatrick was born on February 12, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was encouraged to pursue an acting career by legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Kilpatrick earned a degree in drama from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and got his first big break acting alongside Sidney...
1932-2004
78. Ja'net DuBois
Soundtrack | Good Times
Ja'Net DuBois was a multi-talented and diverse performer. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York and began her career on Broadway. She has appeared in various plays, including "Golden Boy" with Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr., and "A Raisin in the Sun". She moved onto TV roles, receiving a Peabody...
1932-2020
79. Melvin Van Peebles
Actor | The Shining
Melvin Van Peebles was born on August 21, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Shining (1997), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Don't Play Us Cheap (1972). He was married to Maria Marx. He died on September 21, 2021 in Manhattan, New York City, New ...
1932-2021
80. Dick Gregory
Actor | The Hot Chick
Dick Gregory was born on October 12, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Hot Chick (2002), The Leisure Seeker (2017) and Reno 911! (2003). He was married to Lillian Gregory. He died on August 19, 2017 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
1932-2017
81. Little Richard
Actor | Last Action Hero
Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "Architect of Rock 'n' Roll", traveled in his early days with the legendary vaudeville star Spencer "Snake" Anthony. One of Richard's early bands had the young, then unknown singer James Brown (the Godfather of Soul), a ...
1932-2020
82. Mabel King
Actress | The Jerk
Mabel King is best-known for the role of Mama on the 1970's sitcom What's Happening!, but she also appeared in the films The Jerk with Steve Martin and The Wiz with Michael Jackson. Before What's Happening!, she portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in the Broadway version of The Wiz.
1932-1999
83. Nichelle Nichols
Actress | Star Trek
Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series.
As long as she could remember,...
1932-2022
84. Godfrey Cambridge
Actor | Cotton Comes to Harlem
Cambridge won a four-year scholarship to study medicine at Hofstra University but decided, instead, to become an actor, leaving college in his third year. He acted in many off-Broadway productions, winning the Village Voice's Obie Award in Jean Genet's "The Blacks"; and, on Broadway, he gained a ...
1933-1976
85. James Brown
Actor | The Blues Brothers
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and ...
1933-2006
86. Janet MacLachlan
Actress | The Thirteenth Floor
Janet MacLachlan was born on August 27, 1933 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Tick, Tick, Tick (1970) and Tightrope (1984). She died on October 11, 2010 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1933-2010
87. Greg Morris
Actor | Mission: Impossible
Born in Cleveland, Morris came to Hollywood in the early 1960s. His acting experience at that time consisted of a few minor roles on the Seattle stage. He found work appearing on Television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and The Twilight Zone (1959) before being cast in Mission: ...
1933-1996
88. Lou Rawls
Soundtrack | Payback
Rawls was born on 1st December 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. His father abandoned his family and Lou was raised by his grandmother. His first meeting with music was when he was seven years old, in a Baptist church choir. He was mostly influenced by the Chicago Regal theatre where he had the ...
1933-2006
89. Flip Wilson
Writer | Flip
Flip Wilson was born on December 8, 1933 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Flip (1970), The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979) and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). He was married to Cookie Mackenzie and Lovenia Patricia (Peaches) Wilson. He died on November 25, 1998 ...
1933-1998
90. Al Freeman Jr.
Actor | Malcolm X
Al Freeman, Jr. was an actor and director who was the first African American to win a Daytime Emmy Award for acting. His most famous role was that of Police Captain Ed Hall in the soap opera One Life to Live (1968), which brought him the Emmy in 1979. He was a regular on the soap from 1972 through ...
1934-2012
91. Robert DoQui
Actor | RoboCop 3
Excellent, prolific and versatile character actor Robert DoQui was born in 1934 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He attended Langston University on a music scholarship and was a member of the popular singing group, "The Langstonaires". Following a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force, DoQui went to New ...
1934-2008
92. Bill Cobbs
Actor | Demolition Man
Bill Cobbs was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where his parents were hard-working people, who instilled in him a sense of self-reliance and humility. As an amateur actor in the city's Karamu House Theater, he starred in the Ossie Davis play "Purlie Victorious". Cobbs was an Air Force radar ...
93. Lloyd Haynes
Actor | Room 222
Lloyd Haynes was born on October 19, 1934 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Room 222 (1969), Star Trek (1966) and Good Guys Wear Black (1978). He was married to Carolyn Yvonne Giorella, Saundra Lee Madariaga and Alice Elizabeth Ellis. He died on December 31, 1986 in...
1934-1986
94. Hal Williams
Actor | Guess Who
A veteran professional actor who has co-starred as a television series regular in NINE, prime time, HIT series, and has established himself solidly in both the areas of comedy and drama. Hal's latest projects include Disney Family Channel's Snow 2: Brain Freeze (2008) and Hallmark's Generation Gap ...
95. Diahann Carroll
Actress | Julia
One of television's premier African-American series stars, elegant actress, singer and recording artist Diahann Carroll was born Carol Diann (or Diahann) Johnson on July 17, 1935, in the Bronx, New York. The first child of John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel Faulk Johnson, a nurse; music ...
1935-2019
96. Gail Fisher
Actress | Mannix
A classy, smart-looking African-American actress who broke racial barriers in 1970s Hollywood but suffered greatly in her private life years after her TV glory days, award-winning actress Gail Fisher was born on August 18, 1935, in Orange, New Jersey, the youngest of five children. Her father, a ...
1935-2000
97. Jim Brown
Actor | Mars Attacks!
Often mentioned as the greatest player in NFL history, this ruggedly handsome African American fullback for the Cleveland Browns first appeared on movie screens in the western Rio Conchos (1964), followed by a strong supporting role as convict commando "Jefferson" in the terrific WWII action film ...
1936-2023
98. Louis Gossett Jr.
Actor | An Officer and a Gentleman
Louis Gossett Jr. was one of the most respected and beloved actors on stage, screen and television and was also an accomplished writer, producer and director. Off-screen, he was a social activist, educator, and author dedicated to enriching the lives of others. He was the first African-American to ...
1936-2024
99. Mary Alice
Actress | The Matrix Revolutions
Mary Alice was born on December 3, 1936 in Indianola, Mississippi, USA. She was an actress, known for The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Awakenings (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). She died on July 27, 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
1936-2022
100. Garrett Morris
Actor | Coneheads
Garrett Morris was born on February 1, 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Coneheads (1993), Saturday Night Live (1975) and How High (2001). He has been married to Freda Morris since September 20, 1996.
Tell Your Friends