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September 4
From Monroe, Louisiana, Moreland ran away to join the circus at age 12, had success for many years in vaudeville. Eventually his career came to Hollywood, where he appeared in hundreds of movies. Moreland’s artistry and face are familiar to most fans of classic Hollywood. “Charlie Chan” TV fans know him as Birmingham Brown, chauffeur to the great detective in a number of pictures for the Monogram studio but those films are but a small portion of his creative output. Moreland’s wide-eyed portrayals of seemingly countless nervous manservant's and train conductors cause mixed reaction in these politically correct days of a new century. But whatever the response to Moreland’s film legacy in the twenty first century, the fact remains that Moreland was a very talented character actor with a great gift of comic timing. He was one of the movies' greatest clowns. Moreland's last appearance in a major film was in 1970's The Watermelon Man. Mantan Moreland died in Hollywood on September 28, 1973, at the age of 72. Reference: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Foundation 8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, California 90211 Phone: 310-247-3000
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The African American Registry®, The African American Registry® Copyright 2005, 2006
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