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