Cast

Mantan Moreland

Acting

Cast

Mantan Moreland

Known for

Acting

Born

1902-09-03

From

Monroe, Louisiana, USA

Died

1973-09-28

Also known as Man Tan Moreland, Manton Moreland, Manten Moreland

Biography

Born just after the turn of the century in Louisiana, Mantan began running away from home at age 12 to join circuses and medicine shows, only to be brought back time and again. During these times he sharpened his comic skills and developed routines and acts that eventually became popular on the vaudeville stage, or what was then called the "chitlin' circuit." A solo performer by nature, he often teamed up with other famous comics (such as Ben Carter) to keep working, and became a deft performer of "indefinite talk" routines, where two quicksilver comics continually topped each other in mid-sentence, as if reading each other's mind (i.e., "Say, did you see...?" "Saw him just yesterday...didn't look so good"). Mantan's focus gradually shifted his trade toward film, where he initially appeared in servile bits (shoeshine men, porters, waiters). However, his talent for making people laugh couldn't be overlooked and he soon earned featured status in Harlem-styled western parodies and grade "A" comedy films playing the superstitious, ever-terrified manservant running from any kind of impending doom. Moreland's peak in movies came with his recurring role as Birmingham, the skittish chauffeur, in the "Charlie Chan" series, where he was forever forewarning his boss to stay away from an obviously dangerous case or situation. Though haunted mansions were an ideal place for setting off his stereotyped character, Mantan would be haunted in a different way by this Hollywood success in years to follow. By the 1950s, racial attitudes began to change and, with the rise of the civil rights movement, what was once considered hilarious was now interpreted as demeaning and offensive to both blacks and whites. Mantan and others, such as Stepin Fetchit, were ostracized and ridiculed by Hollywood for their past negative portrayals. It took decades for audiences to forgive and newer generations to forget the Depression-era comedy of Mantan Moreland in order for the actor to come back. In the late 1960s he managed a modest resurgence on TV and in commercials and occasional films, allowing him to work again with such comic heavyweights as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and director Carl Reiner. It was all too brief, however, for Mantan, long suffering from ill health, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973, just as he was settling in to his renewed popularity. Today, audiences tend to be kinder and more understanding of Moreland, remembering him as a highly talented comic who, in the only way he knew, broke major barriers and opened the doors for others black actors to follow.

Mantan Moreland

Mantan Moreland

Biography

Girl Trouble

Swing Fever

Swing Fever

Millionaire Playboy

Black Magic

The Gang's All Here

Captain Tugboat Annie

See Here, Private Hargrove

Spider Baby

The Trap

Dressed to Kill

Sign of the Wolf

Law of the Jungle

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat

Tarzan's New York Adventure

The Young Nurses

The Dreamer

Chip Off the Old Block

Docks of New Orleans

A-Haunting We Will Go

Eyes in the Night

Watermelon Man

South of Dixie

Sarong Girl

Hit the Ice

Four Jacks and a Jill

The Shanghai Cobra

Slightly Dangerous

Tall, Tan and Terrific

Up Jumped the Devil

Andy Hardy's Double Life

Tell No Tales

The Patsy

What a Guy

Ebony Parade

This Is the Life

It Started with Eve

Pin Up Girl

Revenge of the Zombies

She's Too Mean for Me

Star Dust

The Shanghai Chest

King of the Zombies

Lucky Ghost

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

The Chinese Ring

Cabin in the Sky

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

Four Shall Die

Let's Go Collegiate

Bowery to Broadway

The Golden Eye

Shadows Over Chinatown

The Green Pastures

Sky Dragon

He Hired the Boss

Irish Luck

Birth of the Blues

We've Never Been Licked

Sleepers West

City of Chance

She Wouldn't Say Yes

The Feathered Serpent

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk

Footlight Serenade

Cracked Nuts

The Comic

Phantom Killer

Come On, Cowboy!

One Dark Night

Moon Over Las Vegas

Up in the Air

You're Out of Luck

Maryland

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost

Dark Alibi

The Jade Mask