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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
October 20, 1895
Died
September 19, 1969
Place of Birth
Cairo, Illinois, USA
Rex Ingram
0.3 Popularity
Biography
Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1969) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Ingram graduated from the Northwestern University medical school in 1919 and was the first African-American man to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from there. He went to Hollywood as a young man where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), starring Elmo Lincoln. He made his (uncredited) screen debut in that film and had many other small roles, usually as a generic black native, such as in the Tarzan films. With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version), The Thief of Bagdad (1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943). From 1929, he also appeared on stage, making his debut on Broadway. He appeared in more than a dozen Broadway productions, with his final role coming in Kwamina in 1961. He was in the original cast of Haiti (1938), Cabin in the Sky (1940), and St. Louis Woman (1946). He is one of the few actors to have played both God (in The Green Pastures) and the Devil (in Cabin in the Sky). In 1966 he played Tee-Tot in the movie Your Cheatin' Heart. Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act in 1948. Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He served just ten months of his sentence, but the incident had a serious effect on his career for the next six years. In 1962, he became the first African-American actor to be hired for a contract role on a soap opera, when he appeared on The Brighter Day. He had other work in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Rex Ingram died of a heart attack at the age of 73. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]
Known For
🎬
7.0
Djinn (archival footage)
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
2008
0.0
Self (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
1973
5.4
George
The Bill Cosby Show
1969
5.3
Jacob
Journey to Shiloh
1968
5.0
Nhinga
Cowboy in Africa
1967
5.0
Dr. Tom Merar
Cowboy in Africa
1967
6.4
Prof. Thurlow
Hurry Sundown
1967
7.2
Natoma
Daktari
1966
7.2
Chief Makubu
Daktari
1966
6.6
Hannibal - Valet
Branded
1965
Credits
🎬
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
as Djinn (archival footage)
2008
7.0
The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
as Self (archive footage)
1973
0.0
The Bill Cosby Show
as George
1969
5.4
Journey to Shiloh
as Jacob
1968
5.3
Cowboy in Africa
as Nhinga
1967
5.0
Cowboy in Africa
as Dr. Tom Merar
1967
5.0
Hurry Sundown
as Prof. Thurlow
1967
6.4
Daktari
as Natoma
1966
7.2
Daktari
as Chief Makubu
1966
7.2
Branded
as Hannibal - Valet
1965
6.6
Your Cheatin' Heart
as Teetot
1964
6.3
Sam Benedict
as Judge Larkin
1962
6.0
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
as Self (archive footage)
1961
0.0
Desire in the Dust
as Burt Crane
1960
3.3
Elmer Gantry
as Preacher of Black Congregation (uncredited)
1960
7.3
Watusi
as Umbopa
1959
5.7
Escort West
as Nelson Walker
1959
5.6
Black Saddle
as Alex Booth
1959
6.0
Anna Lucasta
as Joe Lucasta
1958
5.8
The Rifleman
as Thaddeus
1958
7.1
God's Little Acre
as Uncle Felix
1958
6.1
The Ten Commandments
as Bit Part (uncredited)
1956
7.8
Congo Crossing
as Dr. Leopold Gorman
1956
5.2
Gunsmoke
as Juba
1955
6.6
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
as Sukulu Chieftain
1955
4.9
Climax!
as Petraca
1954
3.3
Moonrise
as Mose
1948
6.2
Kraft Television Theatre
as Lem
1947
7.5
Shoe Shine Jasper
as (voice)
1947
0.0
John Henry and the Inky-Poo
as Narrator / John Henry (voice)
1946
5.9
Adventure
as Preacher (unconfirmed)
1945
6.2
A Thousand and One Nights
as Giant
1945
5.8
Dark Waters
as Pearson Jackson
1944
5.8
🎬
Jasper's Paradise
as (voice)
1944
0.0
Sahara
as Sgt. Maj. Tambul
1943
7.2
Fired Wife
as Charles
1943
4.2
Cabin in the Sky
as Lucius / Lucifer Jr.
1943
6.5
The Talk of the Town
as Tilney
1942
7.3
The Gay Knighties
as Narrator (voice)
1941
0.0
Hoola Boola
as Narrator (voice)
1941
8.0
The Thief of Bagdad
as Djinn
1940
7.1
Let My People Live
as Dr. Gordon
1939
0.0
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Jim
1939
6.6
The Green Pastures
as De Lawd / Adam / Hezdrel
1936
6.3
Harlem After Midnight
1934
0.0
Emperor Jones
as Court Crier
1933
5.5
The Four Feathers
as Fuzzy Wuzzy Native
1929
4.4
The King of Kings
as (uncredited)
1927
6.4
The Ten Commandments
as Israelite Slave (uncredited)
1923
6.5
Tarzan of the Apes
as (uncredited)
1918
5.3