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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
September 3, 1902
Died
September 28, 1973
Place of Birth
Monroe, Louisiana, USA
Also Known As
- Man Tan Moreland
- Manton Moreland
- Manten Moreland
- Carter & Moreland
- Moreland
Mantan Moreland
0.5 Popularity
Biography
Although his brand of humor has been reviled for decades, Negro character actor Mantan Moreland parlayed his cocky but jittery character into a recognizable presence in the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in a long string of comedy thrillers . . . and was considered quite funny at the time! 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.
Known For
3.4
Old Man
The Young Nurses
1973
6.3
Joe the Counterman
Watermelon Man
1970
5.9
Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
The Comic
1969
6.1
Stranger
Love, American Style
1969
5.4
Uncle Dewey
The Bill Cosby Show
1969
7.0
Philip Richards
Adam-12
1968
6.0
Harry James
Julia
1968
6.9
Messenger
Spider Baby
1967
3.8
Subway Rider
Enter Laughing
1967
6.2
Barber Shop Porter
The Patsy
1964
Credits
The Young Nurses
as Old Man
1973
3.4
Watermelon Man
as Joe the Counterman
1970
6.3
The Comic
as Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
1969
5.9
Love, American Style
as Stranger
1969
6.1
The Bill Cosby Show
as Uncle Dewey
1969
5.4
Adam-12
as Philip Richards
1968
7.0
Julia
as Harry James
1968
6.0
Spider Baby
as Messenger
1967
6.9
Enter Laughing
as Subway Rider
1967
3.8
The Patsy
as Barber Shop Porter
1964
6.2
Rockin' the Blues
as Self
1956
0.0
Sky Dragon
as Birmingham Brown
1949
7.7
Come On, Cowboy!
as Mantan
1949
0.0
The Feathered Serpent
as Birmingham Brown
1948
5.8
The Golden Eye
as Birmingham Brown
1948
5.4
She's Too Mean for Me
1948
0.0
The Shanghai Chest
as Birmingham Brown
1948
6.1
The Dreamer
1948
0.0
Docks of New Orleans
as Birmingham Brown
1948
5.9
What a Guy
1948
0.0
The Chinese Ring
as Birmingham Brown
1947
4.9
Return of Mandy's Husband
as Mantan
1947
0.0
The Trap
as Birmingham Brown
1946
6.7
Mantan Runs for Mayor
1946
0.0
Shadows Over Chinatown
as Birmingham Brown
1946
6.0
Tall, Tan and Terrific
as Mantan Moreland
1946
0.0
Dark Alibi
as Birmingham Brown
1946
6.1
Riverboat Rhythm
as Mantan
1946
5.0
Mantan Messes Up
1946
0.0
The Spider
as Harry
1945
5.3
She Wouldn't Say Yes
as Porter (uncredited)
1945
5.9
Captain Tugboat Annie
as Pinto
1945
0.0
The Shanghai Cobra
as Birmingham Brown
1945
5.8
The Scarlet Clue
as Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
1945
5.9
The Jade Mask
as Birmingham Brown
1945
6.1
Bowery to Broadway
as Alabam
1944
0.0
Black Magic
as Birmingham Brown
1944
7.0
South of Dixie
as The Porter
1944
0.0
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
as Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
1944
6.4
Pin Up Girl
as Train Station Porter (uncredited)
1944
6.1
Moon Over Las Vegas
as Porter
1944
0.0
See Here, Private Hargrove
as Train Porter (uncredited)
1944
6.0
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
as Birmingham Brown
1944
5.9
Chip Off the Old Block
as Porter
1944
4.0
Swing Fever
as Woody
1943
5.0
Swing Fever
as Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
1943
5.0
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
as Porter
1943
3.5
Revenge of the Zombies
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
1943
5.2
Melody Parade
as Skidmore
1943
0.0
We've Never Been Licked
as Willie
1943
0.0
Sarong Girl
as Maxwell
1943
0.0
Hit the Ice
as Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
1943
5.9
He Hired the Boss
as Bootblack
1943
3.7
Slightly Dangerous
as Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
1943
6.1
Cabin in the Sky
as First Idea Man
1943
6.5
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
as Eustace Smith
1943
4.0
Andy Hardy's Double Life
as Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
1942
4.8
Eyes in the Night
as Alistair
1942
5.9
Girl Trouble
as Flint's Chauffeur
1942
6.5
Phantom Killer
as Nicodemus
1942
4.5
A-Haunting We Will Go
as Porter (uncredited)
1942
6.0
Footlight Serenade
as Amos
1942
0.0
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
as Lightnin'
1942
4.4
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
as Schenectady Washington
1942
3.0
Tarzan's New York Adventure
as Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
1942
6.3
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
as Horatio B.Fitz Washington
1942
5.1
Professor Creeps
as Washington
1942
0.0
Lucky Ghost
as Washington
1942
5.4
Law of the Jungle
as Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
1942
5.1
🎬
Treat 'Em Rough
as 'Snake-Eyes'
1942
6.0
Four Jacks and a Jill
as Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
1942
6.0
Freckles Comes Home
as Jeff the porter
1942
5.0
🎬
Marry the Boss's Daughter
as Diner Cook
1941
0.0
Birth of the Blues
as Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
1941
6.0
It Started with Eve
as Railway Porter (uncredited)
1941
7.2
Let's Go Collegiate
as Jeff
1941
5.0
Dressed to Kill
as Rusty
1941
6.3
Cracked Nuts
as Burgess
1941
0.0
The Gang's All Here
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
1941
5.0
King of the Zombies
as Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
1941
5.1
Sign of the Wolf
as Ben
1941
6.0
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
as Roy
1941
5.3
Sleepers West
as Porter (uncredited)
1941
6.3
You're Out of Luck
as Jeff Jefferson
1941
6.0
Up Jumped the Devil
as Washington
1941
0.0
Four Shall Die
as Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
1940
0.0
Drums of the Desert
as Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
1940
5.0
While Thousands Cheer
as Nash
1940
0.0
Up in the Air
as Jeff Jefferson
1940
5.0
Laughing at Danger
as Jefferson
1940
0.0
Maryland
1940
6.2
On the Spot
as Jefferson White
1940
5.5
Girl in 313
as Porter
1940
5.4
Viva Cisco Kid
as Memphis - The Cook
1940
5.5
Star Dust
as Waiter on Train
1940
4.8
Millionaire Playboy
as Bellhop
1940
2.7
Chasing Trouble
as Thomas H. Jefferson
1940
5.0
City of Chance
as Anxious Man
1940
5.2
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
as Robbins
1940
4.0
Irish Luck
as Jefferson
1939
5.8
Riders of the Frontier
as Chappie, the Cook
1939
0.0
Tell No Tales
as Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
1939
4.6
One Dark Night
as Samson Brown
1939
0.0
🎬
Gang Smashers
as Gloomy
1938
0.0
Next Time I Marry
as Tilby
1938
7.0
Frontier Scout
as Norris Family Butler
1938
4.5
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
as Bill Blake
1938
4.0
Spirit of Youth
as Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
1938
5.5
Harlem on the Prairie
as Mistletoe
1937
5.0
The Green Pastures
as Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
1936
6.3
That's the Spirit
as Night Watchman
1933
2.0
Ebony Parade
as Mantan
N/A
0.0