Cast

Clarence Muse

Acting

Cast

Clarence Muse

Known for

Acting

Born

1889-10-13

From

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Died

1979-10-13

Also known as Clarence Muese

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first Negro to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years appearing in more than 150 movies. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Alexander and Mary Muse, he studied at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and received an international law degree in 1911. He was acting in New York by the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance with two Harlem theatres, Lincoln Players and Lafayette Players. Muse moved to Chicago for a while, and then moved to Hollywood and performed in Hearts in Dixie (1929), the first all-black movie. For the next fifty years, he worked regularly in minor and major roles. While with the Lafayette Players, Muse worked under the management of producer Robert Levy on productions that helped black actors to gain prominence and respect. In regards to the Lafayette Theatre's staging of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Muse said the play was relevant to black actors and audiences "because, in a way, it was every black man's story. Black men too have been split creatures inhabiting one body.". Muse appeared as an opera singer, minstrel show performer, vaudeville and Broadway actor; he also wrote songs, plays, and sketches. In 1943, he became the first African American Broadway director with Run Little Chillun. Muse was also the co-writer of several notable songs. In 1931, with Leon René and Otis René, Muse wrote "When It's Sleepy Time Down South", also known as "Sleepy Time Down South". The song was sung by Nina Mae McKinney in the movie Safe in Hell (1931), and later became a signature song of Louis Armstrong. He was the major star in Broken Earth (1936), which related the story of a black sharecropper whose son miraculously recovers from fever through the father's fervent prayer. Shot on a farm in the South with nonprofessional actors (except for Muse), the film's early scenes focused in a highly realistic manner on the incredible hardship of black farmers, with plowing scenes. In 1938, Muse co-starred with boxer Joe Louis in Spirit of Youth, the fictional story of a champion boxer which featured an all black cast. Muse and Langston Hughes wrote the script for Way Down South (1939). Muse performed in Broken Strings (1940), as a concert violinist who opposes the desire of his son to play "swing". From 1955-56, Muse was a regular on the weekly TV version of Casablanca, playing Sam the pianist (a part he was under consideration for in the original Warner Brothers film), and in 1959, he played Peter, the Honey Man, in Porgy and Bess. He appeared on Disney's TV miniseries The Swamp Fox. Other film credits include Buck and the Preacher (1972), The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) and as Gazenga's Assistant, "Snapper" in Car Wash (1976). His last acting role was in The Black Stallion (1979).

Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse

Biography

Hallelujah

Double Indemnity

Unconquered

The Black Stallion

The Black Swan

Scarlet Street

Dirigible

Belle Starr

Shadow of a Doubt

God Is My Co-Pilot

Flesh and Fantasy

Heaven Can Wait

Twin Beds

Silver River

Car Wash

Welcome Stranger

Rain or Shine

The Sun Shines Bright

My Forbidden Past

Flying Down to Rio

White Zombie

The Talk of the Town

The Flame of New Orleans

So Red the Rose

The Thin Man Goes Home

My Favorite Brunette

Safe in Hell

Riding High

The Wet Parade

That Gang of Mine

Tales of Manhattan

Follow the Boys

Sherlock Holmes in Washington

If I Had a Million

Broadway Bill

Prestige

Show Boat

The Toy Wife

The Woman from Monte Carlo

Way Down South

Watch on the Rhine

Invisible Ghost

Without Love

Hell's Highway

Love Crazy

The Life of Jimmy Dolan

The Cabin in the Cotton

Kid Millions

Adam Had Four Sons

Apache Drums

The Las Vegas Story

Katie Did It

Buck and the Preacher

She Couldn't Say No

The Sky's the Limit

Among the Living

Porgy and Bess

An Act of Murder

The Soul of a Monster

A Dream for Christmas

Caribbean

Outside the Law

Frisco Jenny

Johnny Come Lately

Daniel Boone

The World's Greatest Athlete

Chad Hanna

The Green Pastures

Secrets of a Nurse

Two Smart People

The Death Kiss

Winner Take All

Laughter in Hell

The Personality Kid

Harmony Lane

Murder Over New York

The Wrecker