Leigh Whipper
Leigh Whipper (29 October 1876 – 26 July 1975) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was the first African-American to join the Actors' Equity Association, and one of the founders of the Negro Actors Guild of America.[1] He is best known for his role as Crooks in the film of Of Mice and Men, a role he reprised on Broadway.
Educated at Howard University Law University, he left in 1895 and never practiced as a lawyer. Without any dramatic training, he made his first Broadway appearance in Georgia Minstrels. His first film role was in the 1920 silent film The Symbol of the Unconquered.
During the second World War, Whipper was a member of the steering committee of Negro Division the Hollywood Victory Committee.[2]
Partial filmography
- Of Mice and Men (1939)
- Bahama Passage (1941)
- Robin Hood of the Pecos (1941)
- Virginia (1941)
- Road to Zanzibar (1941)
- King of the Zombies (1941)
- White Cargo (1942)
- The Oxbow Incident (1943) (uncredited)
- The Impostor (1944)
- Undercurrent (1946)
- Lost Boundaries (1949)
References
- ^ The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts. "Leigh Rollin Whipper papers". Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ Watts, Jill (2006). Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood. Amistad. p. 209.
External links
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