Noble Johnson

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Noble Mark Johnson (born April 18, 1881 in Marshall , Missouri , † January 9, 1978 in Yucaipa , California ) was an American actor, screenwriter and producer.

life and career

Noble Johnson, an African American , was born in the small town of Marshall, Missouri in 1881. Soon after, he and his family moved to Colorado Springs , Colorado , where he had a classmate, future movie star Lon Chaney Sr. , who would later become a lifelong friend. At 15, Johnson dropped out of school to help his father - a horse trainer - with work. According to some sources, Johnson entered the film business as early as 1909; Johnson did not make his first "proven" film, Mr. Carlson of Arizona , in 1915, when he was already 34 years old. He was quickly able to establish himself as a supporting actor in Hollywood's silent film era, who - in contrast to other African-Americans in Hollywood - rarely played the stereotype of the black servant or slave: With his large, sturdy stature and a very good appearance, he mostly played exotic characters such as tribal chiefs or mysterious strangers in films who, despite their often villainous disposition, possessed a certain dignity. Nevertheless, he should not get beyond supporting roles in his entire film career.

In addition to his other film appearances, Johnson was president of The Lincoln Motion Picture Co. , founded in 1916 and one of the first African-American film production companies in Hollywood. For this he worked as a producer, author and star actor. The aim of these race films produced by Johnson was to awaken a "black pride" in contrast to the many other, partly racist films in Hollywood. The Lincoln Motion Picture Co. had to close again in 1921 due to failure and Johnson concentrated again exclusively on his career as an actor. In contrast to many of his silent film colleagues , the actor made the transition to sound film without any problems at the end of the 1920s. In the early 1930s, Johnson starred in several universal horror films , including as "the Nubian", Boris Karloff's sidekick , in The Mummy (1932). Perhaps his most famous role today, Johnson played in 1933 as the native chief in the classic film King Kong and the White Woman , a role he represented again in the sequel to King Kong's Son (also 1933). By 1950 Johnson was to act in almost 150 films, one of his last roles he had as Indian chief in John Ford's western The Devil's Captain with John Wayne .

Noble Johnson, who was married three times, died in 1978 at the age of 96. He was in the Garden of Peace Memorial Park in Newhall ( California buried).

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Noble Johnson  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.fandango.com/noblejohnson/biography/p35908
  2. ^ Noble Johnson at IMDb
  3. ↑ Article about Noble Johnson and Frank Silvera ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.indiewire.com
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Noble
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Noble Mark (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, writer, and producer
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Marshall , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1978
Place of death Yucaipa , California