Rex Ingram

Rex Ingram

Born: October 20, 1895
Died: September 19, 1969
in Cairo, Illinois, USA
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]

Movies for Rex Ingram...

Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Title: Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Character: Djinn (archival footage)
Released: May 27, 2008
Type: Movie
Documentary about the technical achievements of the 1940 film classic The Thief of Bagdad.
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The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
Title: The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1973
Type: Movie
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Title: The Bill Cosby Show
Character: George
Released: September 14, 1969
Type: TV
The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with Robert Culp in I Spy. The series also marked the first time an African American starred in his or her own eponymous comedy series.
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Journey to Shiloh
Title: Journey to Shiloh
Character: Jacob
Released: May 10, 1968
Type: Movie
At the beginning of the Civil War, seven friends embark on a cross-country journey in order to join the Confederate army.
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Title: Cowboy in Africa
Character: Dr. Tom Merar
Released: September 11, 1967
Type: TV
Cowboy in Africa was an American Broadcasting Company television series produced during 1967-1968 by Ivan Tors and featuring Chuck Connors as the main actor. A 1966 television pilot show featuring Hugh O'Brian as Jim Sinclair, made into a movie and released to cinemas, was named Africa - Texas Style.
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Title: Cowboy in Africa
Character: Nhinga
Released: September 11, 1967
Type: TV
Cowboy in Africa was an American Broadcasting Company television series produced during 1967-1968 by Ivan Tors and featuring Chuck Connors as the main actor. A 1966 television pilot show featuring Hugh O'Brian as Jim Sinclair, made into a movie and released to cinemas, was named Africa - Texas Style.
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Hurry Sundown
Title: Hurry Sundown
Character: Prof. Thurlow
Released: February 9, 1967
Type: Movie
Following the Second World War, a northern cannery combine negotiates for the purchase of a large tract of uncultivated Georgia farmland. The major portion of the land is owned by Julie Ann Warren and has already been optioned by her unscrupulous, draft dodging husband, Henry. Now the combine must also obtain two smaller plots - one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell, a combat veteran with a wife and family; the other by Reeve Scott, a young black man whose mother had been Julie's childhood Mammy. But neither Rad nor Reeve is interested in selling and they form an unprecedented black and white partnership to improve their land. Although infuriated by the turn of events, Henry remains determined to push through the big land deal. And when Reeve's mother Rose dies, Henry tries to persuade his wife to charge Reeve with illegal ownership of his property, confident the the bigoted Judge Purcell will rule against a Negro.
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Title: Daktari
Character: Natoma
Released: January 11, 1966
Type: TV
Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East Africa.
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Title: Daktari
Character: Chief Makubu
Released: January 11, 1966
Type: TV
Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East Africa.
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Title: Branded
Character: Hannibal - Valet
Released: January 24, 1965
Type: TV
Branded is an American Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice.
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Your Cheatin' Heart
Title: Your Cheatin' Heart
Character: Teetot
Released: November 4, 1964
Type: Movie
The story of the country and western singer Hank Williams.
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Title: Sam Benedict
Released: September 15, 1962
Type: TV
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman. Sam Benedict is based on real-life lawyer Jacob W. "Jake" Erlich, who served as technical consultant for the series.
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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Title: The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 24, 1961
Type: Movie
A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
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Desire in the Dust
Title: Desire in the Dust
Character: Burt Crane
Released: October 10, 1960
Type: Movie
Lonnie Wilson returns to small southern hometown after spending six years on the chain-gang for killing Colonel Ben Marquand's son in an automobile accident. He revives his love affair with Melinda Marquand........
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Elmer Gantry
Title: Elmer Gantry
Character: Preacher of Black Congregation (uncredited)
Released: July 7, 1960
Type: Movie
When hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer, a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join her act as a passionate preacher. The two make a successful onstage pair, and their chemistry extends to romance. Both the show and their relationship are threatened, however, when one of Gantry's ex-lovers decides that she has a score to settle with the charismatic performer.
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Watusi
Title: Watusi
Character: Umbopa
Released: March 25, 1959
Type: Movie
Alan Quartermain's son comes to Africa to find the treasure his father was unable to bring home.
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Escort West
Title: Escort West
Character: Nelson Walker
Released: January 23, 1959
Type: Movie
Seeking a new place to call home, former Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and his daughter meet Beth (Elaine Stewart), whose fiancé is a Union soldier. Lassiter falls for Beth, and when Indians attack, they head to a cavalry camp where Lassiter must battle the Indians as well as Beth's fiancé.
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Title: Black Saddle
Character: Alex Booth
Released: January 10, 1959
Type: TV
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
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Anna Lucasta
Title: Anna Lucasta
Character: Joe Lucasta
Released: November 1, 1958
Type: Movie
Anna Lucasta has been walking the streets in San Diego since being thrown out of home, at 19, by her alcoholic father, Joe. She's estranged from her family, but when her father and brother-in-law see greedy potential in an arranged marriage to affluent Rudolph, Anna is called back home. Old wounds have hardly healed, though. Just as Anna starts to feel for Rudolph, Danny, an old friend, returns to make life difficult.
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Title: The Rifleman
Character: Thaddeus
Released: September 30, 1958
Type: TV
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.
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God's Little Acre
Title: God's Little Acre
Character: Uncle Felix
Released: September 23, 1958
Type: Movie
In the 1950s, a poor Georgia cotton farmer and his sons search for the gold presumably buried on the farm by their grandfather but problems related to poverty, marital infidelity, unemployment and booze threaten to destroy their family.
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The Ten Commandments
Title: The Ten Commandments
Character: Bit Part (uncredited)
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: Movie
Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as the leader and liberator of the Hebrew people.
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Congo Crossing
Title: Congo Crossing
Character: Dr. Leopold Gorman
Released: July 1, 1956
Type: Movie
Congotanga, West Africa, has no extradition laws; the government is controlled by foreign gangsters, headed by Carl Rittner. The latest plane from Europe carries lovely Louise Whitman, fleeing a French murder charge, and Mannering, who pays resident hit man O'Connell to kill her. Through a chain of circumstances Louise, O'Connell, and heroic surveyor David Carr end up alone in the jungle on Carr's mission to determine the true border of Congotanga... in which Rittner is keenly interested.
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Title: Gunsmoke
Character: Juba
Released: September 10, 1955
Type: TV
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
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Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
Title: Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
Character: Sukulu Chieftain
Released: February 16, 1955
Type: Movie
Hunters trespass into Sukulu country, where animals are sacred, posing as photographers.
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Title: Climax!
Character: Petraca
Released: October 7, 1954
Type: TV
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.
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Moonrise
Title: Moonrise
Character: Mose
Released: October 1, 1948
Type: Movie
Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until one night, in a fit of rage, he kills his most persistent tormentor. As the police close in around him, he makes a desperate bid for the love of the dead man’s fiancée, a schoolteacher who sees the wounded soul behind his aggression.
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Title: Kraft Television Theatre
Character: Lem
Released: May 7, 1947
Type: TV
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series
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Shoe Shine Jasper
Title: Shoe Shine Jasper
Character: (voice)
Released: February 28, 1947
Type: Movie
George Pal shines a shoes while fairy godmother visits him.
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John Henry and the Inky-Poo
Title: John Henry and the Inky-Poo
Character: Narrator / John Henry (voice)
Released: September 6, 1946
Type: Movie
In this Puppetoon animated short film (an Academy Award Best Short Subject, Cartoons nominee), legendary American folklore figure John Henry (voice of Rex Ingram) goes to work for the C&O Railroad, which shortly thereafter buys an automatic steel-driving engine, The Inky-Poo. John Henry matches his strength against the engine, saying that any man can beat a machine because a man has a mind. Can he prevail? In 2015 this film, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2009.
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Adventure
Title: Adventure
Character: Preacher (unconfirmed)
Released: December 28, 1945
Type: Movie
A rough and tumble man of the sea falls for a meek librarian.
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A Thousand and One Nights
Title: A Thousand and One Nights
Character: Giant
Released: July 20, 1945
Type: Movie
On the run after being found sweet-talking the Sultan's daughter, Aladdin comes upon a lamp which, when rubbed, summons up Babs the genie. He uses it to return as a visiting prince asking for the princess's hand. Unfortunately for him, the sultan's wicked twin brother has secretly usurped the throne, someone else is after the lamp for his own ends, and Babs has taken a shine to Aladdin herself and is bent on wrecking his endeavours.
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Dark Waters
Title: Dark Waters
Character: Pearson Jackson
Released: November 21, 1944
Type: Movie
Leslie Calvin, the sole survivor of a submarine accident, goes to her relatives in order to recover emotionally. Unfortunately, she encounters various scam artists led by Mr. Sydney who intend to kill her and steal the family assets. Dr. George Grover helps Leslie to defeat Sydney.
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Jasper's Paradise
Title: Jasper's Paradise
Character: (voice)
Released: October 13, 1944
Type: Movie
Jasper goes to heaven in this George Pal Puppetoon.
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Sahara
Title: Sahara
Character: Sgt. Major Tambul
Released: September 22, 1943
Type: Movie
Sergeant Joe Gunn and his tank crew pick up five British soldiers, a Frenchman and a Sudanese man with an Italian prisoner crossing the Libyan Desert to rejoin their command after the fall of Tobruk. Tambul, the Sudanese leads them to an abandoned desert fortress where they hope to find water. Soon a detachment of German soldiers arrives and attempts to barter food for water, but Gunn and his followers refuse. When the Germans attack, Gunn leads his desert-weary men in a desperate battle, hoping that British reinforcements can arrive in time.
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Fired Wife
Title: Fired Wife
Character: Charles
Released: September 4, 1943
Type: Movie
A Broadway producer's Girl Friday must make sure that her recent marriage is kept secret. If it gets out, she will lose her job. Unfortunately, her new hubby is tired of hiding the truth and creates all kinds of problems when he decides to spill the beans.
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Cabin in the Sky
Title: Cabin in the Sky
Character: Lucius / Lucifer Jr.
Released: April 9, 1943
Type: Movie
When compulsive gambler Little Joe Jackson dies in a drunken fight, he awakens in purgatory, where he learns that he will be sent back to Earth for six months to prove that he deserves to be in heaven. He awakens, remembering nothing and struggles to do right by his devout wife, Petunia, while an angel known as the General and the devil's son, Lucifer Jr., fight for his soul.
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The Talk of the Town
Title: The Talk of the Town
Character: Tilney
Released: August 20, 1942
Type: Movie
When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, political activist Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson and accidental murder. Escaping, Leopold hides out in the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley... which she has just rented to unsuspecting law professor Michael Lightcap.
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The Gay Knighties
Title: The Gay Knighties
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: August 22, 1941
Type: Movie
A Puppetoon by George Pal.
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Hoola Boola
Title: Hoola Boola
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: June 27, 1941
Type: Movie
Jim Dandy lands on a tropical island and falls in love with a beautiful maiden. Soon a tribe of cannibals kidnap him. A Puppetoon animated short film.
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The Thief of Bagdad
Title: The Thief of Bagdad
Character: Djinn
Released: December 25, 1940
Type: Movie
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
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Let My People Live
Title: Let My People Live
Character: Dr. Gordon
Released: March 10, 1939
Type: Movie
Aimed at African Americans and shot at Tuskegee University, this film instructs viewers in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis by focusing on a pair of sympathetic siblings, George and Mary, whose lives are altered by the disease. Starring Rex Ingram as Dr. Gordon, the film suggests that organized religion is an important defensive location in this particular community, and warns of the dangers of the previous generation’s superstitions and its fear of medicine. The Health Department prominently featured the film at the 1939 World’s Fair. Directed by Edgar Ulmer.
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Character: Jim
Released: February 10, 1939
Type: Movie
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.
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The Green Pastures
Title: The Green Pastures
Character: De Lawd / Adam / Hezdrel
Released: August 1, 1936
Type: Movie
God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.
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Harlem After Midnight
Title: Harlem After Midnight
Released: January 1, 1934
Type: Movie
Gangsters in Harlem make plans to commit a kidnapping.
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The Emperor Jones
Title: The Emperor Jones
Character: Court Crier
Released: September 29, 1933
Type: Movie
Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and, through bluff and bravado, finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.
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The Four Feathers
Title: The Four Feathers
Character: Fuzzy Wuzzy Native
Released: June 1, 1929
Type: Movie
An Englishman (Richard Arlen) fights in the Sudan after receiving white feathers of cowardice from his fiancee (Fay Wray) and friends.
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The King of Kings
Title: The King of Kings
Character: (uncredited)
Released: April 19, 1927
Type: Movie
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
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The Ten Commandments
Title: The Ten Commandments
Character: Israelite Slave (uncredited)
Released: November 23, 1923
Type: Movie
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
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Tarzan of the Apes
Title: Tarzan of the Apes
Character: (uncredited)
Released: January 27, 1918
Type: Movie
A female ape takes to mothering the orphaned boy (Tarzan) and raises him over the course of many years until a rescue mission is finally launched and the search party combs the jungle for the long-time missing Lord Greystoke. But then, one of the search members, Jane Porter, gets separated from the group and comes face to face with fearsome wild animals. Tarzan saves her from harm just in the knick of time and love begins to blossom.