Rex Ingram (Actor)

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Rex Ingram, photograph by Carl van Vechten (1934)

Rex Ingram (born October 20, 1895 in Cairo , Illinois , † September 19, 1969 in Hollywood , California ) was an American actor.

Life

Ingram's father worked as a stoker on a Mississippi steamship and Rex spent much of his childhood and adolescence with his father on the Mississippi River . Ingram studied medicine at Northwestern University and went to California after graduation. There he was spotted on the street for a Tarzan movie with Elmo Lincoln and starred in several smaller silent film roles . However, he only experienced his breakthrough as a film actor with the introduction of the sound film. His deep, powerful voice and physical presence earned him impressive roles. His better-known roles include the slave Jim in the Mark Twain film adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) by Richard Thorpe and the cheeky genie in the lavish fairytale film The Thief of Baghdad (1940).

In 1929 he made his Broadway debut on the theater stage and played in more than a dozen Broadway productions by 1961. He was among 1,940 premiered occupation of the musical Cabin in the Sky and played his role in the film adaptation of Vincente Minnelli from the year 1943. In 1957, he played in the Broadway premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot the Pozzo .

In 1949 he was arrested under the so-called Mann Act and spent ten months in prison. This conviction brought a break in his career and it took him until the late 1950s to get serious role offers again. In the 1960s, he was mainly seen in television series and in 1962 was the first black man to be seen in a US soap opera . When he first appeared on screen in The Brighter Day , it sparked a scandal. The Brighter Day ran since 1954 and was the first successful soap opera on American television. The series was completely removed from CBS's programming a month later, following its first appearance in 1962 .

In 1969, Rex Ingram died of a heart attack at the age of 73 .

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Group photo, Mare Nostrum. Illustrated Film Week 1926, accessed on May 9, 2020 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ingram, Rex
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Cairo , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH 19th September 1969
Place of death Hollywood , California