Leigh Whipper
Actor · 1876 – 1975 · Charleston, South Carolina, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Leigh Rollin Whipper (October 29, 1876 – July 26, 1975) was an American actor on the stage and in motion pictures. He was the first African American to join the Actors' Equity Association, and one of the founders of the Negro Actors Guild of America. He is best known for creating the role of Crooks in the original Broadway production of Of Mice and Men, which he reprised in the 1939 film version. Educated at Howard University Law School, he left in 1895 and never practiced as a lawyer. Without any dramatic training, he made his first Broadway appearance in Georgia Minstrels. His first film role was in the 1920 silent film The Symbol of the Unconquered. During the Second World War, Whipper was a member of the steering committee of Negro Division the Hollywood Victory Committee.
Movies23
Movie7.7WesternA posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943 · 439 votes
MovieDocumentaryA decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.
Movie5.9DramaThrillerAfter a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
Undercurrent
1946 · 53 votes
Movie7.3DramaAn intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
Of Mice and Men
1939 · 106 votes
Movie5.2HorrorComedyDuring World War II, a small plane somewhere over the Caribbean runs low on fuel and is blown off course by a storm. Guided by a faint radio signal, they crash-land on an island. The passenger, his manservant and the pilot take refuge in a mansion owned by a doctor. The quick-witted yet easily-frightened manservant soon becomes convinced the mansion is haunted by zombies and ghosts.
King of the Zombies
1941 · 55 votes
Movie6.4AdventureComedyStranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con-women.
Road to Zanzibar
1941 · 36 votes
Movie5.7WarDramaAmbassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.
Mission to Moscow
1943 · 21 votes
Movie4.8DramaA young bride tries to rebuild her life after she learns her husband has been killed in the war.
Young Widow
1946 · 10 votes
Movie5.7DramaEve Mason, a white-passing black woman, moves to a remote cottage she inherited from her late father. She makes the acquaintance of her neighbor, a dashing black settler named Hugh Van Allen, and quickly falls for him. Trouble brews as the local cadre of racist hucksters want the valuable land Van Allen lives on, and will do anything to take it from him.
The Symbol of the Unconquered: A Story of the Ku Klux Klan
1920 · 12 votes
Movie4.2WesternLambert owns the trucking line that ships cattle to market. When he raises his rates Roy decides to ship the cattle on the River Boat. When Lambert and his men are unable to stop the boat, they rustle the cattle.
Heart of the Golden West
1942 · 4 votes
Movie7.1DramaFantasyAn Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence.
Happy Land
1943 · 4 votes
Movie6.0CrimeMysteryLeslie Calvin, the sole survivor of a submarine accident, goes to her relatives in order to recover emotionally. Unfortunately, she encounters various scam artists led by Mr. Sydney who intend to kill her and steal the family assets. Dr. George Grover helps Leslie to defeat Sydney.
Dark Waters
1944 · 25 votes
Movie7.0DramaAn orphaned teen gets involved with some chain-gang convicts.
The Young Don't Cry
1957 · 5 votes
Movie6.0WesternRobin Hood of the Pecos is a 1941 American film starring Roy Rogers and directed by Joseph Kane. Following the Civil War, the South still faced many dangers not the least of which were the armies of carpetbaggers that descended on impoverished towns, intent on making a fast greenback at the expense of the local populace.
Robin Hood of the Pecos
1941 · 2 votes
Movie7.5RomanceDramaA girl, Carol whom the audience is quickly informed "has been around," and her father arrive to take over the business management of an island in the Bahamas owned by Adrian Ainsworth, descendant of many ancestors who have handled it over the years to the satisfaction of its 250 native residents. He is married to a woman who stays away from the island because she is lonely when there. Adrian doesn't want Carol or her father there, and they don't want to be there. Romance can't be lurking far behind the beautiful sunset.
Bahama Passage
1941 · 2 votes
Movie6.2AdventureDramaIn Africa early in World War II, a British rubber plantation executive reminisces about his arrival in the Congo in 1910. He tells the story of a love-hate triangle involving Harry Witzel, an in-country station superintendent who'd seen it all, Langford, a new manager sent from England for a four-year stint, and Tondelayo, a siren of great beauty who desires silk and baubles. Witzel is gruff and seasoned, certain that Langford won't be able to cut it. Langford responds with determination and anger, attracted to Tondelayo because of her beauty, her wiles, and to get at Witzel. Manipulation, jealousy, revenge, and responsibility play out as alliances within the triangle shift.
White Cargo
1942 · 8 votes
Movie6.1DramaRomanceAbandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a traumatizing past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black children.
Within Our Gates
1920 · 113 votes
Movie8.0DramaFilm version of Joseph Kramm's Pulitzer Prize play, about a Broadway playwright driven to a nervous breakdown by his shrewish wife.
The Shrike
1955 · 2 votes
Movie7.9MysteryA perfumed message provides the only clue for a blind detective bent on clearing a man accused of murder.
The Hidden Eye
1945 · 7 votes
Movie7.3DramaComedyThe perineal District Attorney and conservative southern patriarch cherishes the old ways and does his best to adjust to change.
The Vanishing Virginian
1942 · 4 votes
Movie9.0DramaRomancePost-Civil War romantic drama about defeated Southerners, starring Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray.
Virginia
1941 · 1 votes
Movie6.5RomanceAdventureThe swamp folk of the deep Okefenokee live a brutal primitive life untouched by modern times - they support themselves by hunting alligators and selling them to the outside world. Jeff returns home from college with an engineering degree and dreams of bringing modern medical care and education to the swamps. He is immediately confronted by his old boyhood rival, "Gator-Bait" Blair, who thinks things are just fine the way the are. "Gator" whips the ignorant locals into a frenzy of fear and resistance. When Jeff is unintimidated by their threats, Blair sets out to stop his plans once and for all - with a rifle.
Untamed Fury
1947 · 2 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryUS Navy produced short stars Joel Fluellen as a draftee from his civilian job at a black newspaper through boot camp and an assignment in the Pacific. Completed after the surrender of Japan, the film celebrates the teamwork, diversity, and the actions of several distinguished African American sailors.
The Negro Sailor
1945 · 1 votes