Clarence Muse

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Clarence Muse
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedOctober 13, 1979(1979-10-13) (aged 89)
Perris, California, U.S.
EducationDickinson College
Occupations
  • Actor
  • screenwriter
  • director
  • singer
  • composer
Years active1921–1979
Spouses
  • Willabelie
    (m. 19??; div. 19??)
Irene Ena
​
(m. 1952)​
Children3

Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first

African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's Hearts in Dixie. He acted for 50 years, and appeared in more than 150 films. He was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
in 1973.

Life and career

Polly Ann Young, Bela Lugosi, and Clarence Muse in Invisible Ghost (1941)

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Alexander and Mary Muse,

Dickinson School of Law
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for one year in 1908. He left because he believed he could not make a living in law as an African American. He later received an honorary doctorate of laws from Dickinson School of Law in 1978.

By the 1920s Muse was acting in New York during the

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.".[3]

Muse moved to Chicago for a while, and then moved to Hollywood. He performed in

Run Little Chillun.[4]

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). Later it became a signature song of Louis Armstrong.[citation needed]

He was the major star in The 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 physical labor of plowing scenes with black farmers. 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).[5]

Muse performed in

Warner Brothers film). In 1959, he played Peter, the Honey Man, in the film musical Porgy and Bess
.

Muse appeared on Disney's TV miniseries The Swamp Fox. Other film credits include Buck and the Preacher (1972), The World's Greatest Athlete (1973), Car Wash (1976), and Passing Through. His last acting role was in The Black Stallion (1979).

Other

Muse received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, in 1972. He was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. Muse died in Perris, California, on October 13, 1979, one day before his 90th birthday and on the same day that his final film was released.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ISBN 0810826054 [page needed
    ]
  2. ISBN 0313295379
  3. ^ Penn, Arthur S. Before the Harlem Renaissance. Collodion Press: New York. 2010. [ISBN missing]
  4. ^ Clarence Muse profile, encyclopedia.com; accessed June 15, 2017.
  5. ISBN 0813522285 [page needed
    ]
  6. ISBN 0226277887
  7. ISBN 979-8849200880
    .

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clarence Muse.
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