Thalmus Rasulala

Thalmus Rasulala (born Jack Crowder ; born November 15, 1939 in Miami , Florida , USA ; † October 9, 1991 in Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA ) was an American film and stage actor .

Life

Rasulala grew up in California , where he was a student at the private University of Redlands . As a young man, he trained as a public relations agent for a company in Los Angeles . He then served his military service with the United States Air Force , where he worked as a coordinator for contracts and orders in the office.

In the early 1960s, Rasulala began working as an actor , then still under his birth name Jack Crowder , and made his debut in an episode of the television series Tales of Wells Fargo in 1961 . Between January 1964 and January 1970 he appeared in 2,844 performances in Hello Dolly! on Broadway and won the Theater World Award in 1968 . It should be his only appearance on Broadway, as Rasulala only appeared in smaller theaters after that.

Only after ten years in theater and television did he change his name in 1971 to the rather unusual-sounding pseudonym Thalmus Rasulala. In total, he was in front of the camera around 80 times, mostly in TV series. These include cult formats such as Kobra, Take Over (1973), Kojak - Einsatz in Manhattan (1977), Cagney & Lacey (1985) or most recently in 1989 in The Killer Brigade and Spaceship Enterprise: The Next Century .

Rasulala, who was African American, developed leukemia but died of a heart attack in October 1991 , shortly before his 52nd birthday.

Filmography (selection)

• 1970: Never Again New York ( The Out-of-Towners )
• 1972: Blacula ( Blacula )
• 1974: Willie Dynamite ( Daniels )
• 1975: What use is a beef steak to a dead dog? ( Mr. Ricco )
• 1977: Roots ( Roots )
• 1992: Mom and Dad Save the World ( Mom and Dad Save the World )

Web links

• Thalmus Rasulala in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Thalmus Rasulala aka Jack Crowder in the Internet Broadway Database (English)