Leigh Whipper
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.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 9.365 |
| Birthday | 1876-10-29 |
| Place of Birth | Charleston, South Carolina, USA |
| Also Known As | Lee Whipper , |
1941
Road to Zanzibar
6.31/29
Stranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con-women.
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Road to Zanzibar
1946
Undercurrent
5.8/47
After 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...
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Undercurrent
1939
Of Mice and Men
7.342/79
An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
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Of Mice and Men
1945
The Hidden Eye
7.6/5
A perfumed message provides the only clue for a blind detective bent on clearing a man accused of murder.
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The Hidden Eye
1941
Bahama Passage
6/1
A 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...
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Bahama Passage
1942
White Cargo
5.9/6
In 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...
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White Cargo
1942
Heart of the Golden West
2/0
Lambert 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 an...
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Heart of the Golden West
1946
Young Widow
4.8/8
A young bride tries to rebuild her life after she learns her husband has been killed in the war.
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Young Widow
1941
Virginia
0/0
Post-Civil War romantic drama about defeated Southerners, starring Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray.
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Virginia
1943
The Ox-Bow Incident
7.712/361
A 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.
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The Ox-Bow Incident
1920
The Symbol of the Unconquered
5.318/11
Eve 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 da...
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The Symbol of the Unconquered
1943
Happy Land
6.2/3
An 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 h...
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Happy Land
1941
Robin Hood of the Pecos
5/1
Robin 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 d...
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Robin Hood of the Pecos
1947
Untamed Fury
6/1
The swamp folk of the deep Okefenokee live a brutal primitive life untouched by modern times - they support themselves by hunting alligators and selli...
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Untamed Fury
1941
King of the Zombies
5.207/41
During 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, t...
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King of the Zombies
1957
The Young Don't Cry
6.2/4
An orphaned teen gets involved with some chain-gang convicts.
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The Young Don't Cry
1942
The Vanishing Virginian
6/1
The perineal District Attorney and conservative southern patriarch cherishes the old ways and does his best to adjust to change.
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The Vanishing Virginian
1943
Mission to Moscow
5.2/17
Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism.
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Mission to Moscow
1920
Within Our Gates
5.821/84
Abandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a traumatizing past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black c...
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Within Our Gates
1955
The Shrike
6/1
Film version of Joseph Kramm's Pulitzer Prize play, about a Broadway playwright driven to a nervous breakdown by his shrewish wife.
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The Shrike
1945
The Negro Sailor
0/0
US 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....
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