Lorenzo Tucker | |
---|---|
Lorenzo Tucker, star of the early black cinema Lorenzo Tucker, star of the early black cinema | |
Born |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | June 27, 1907
Died |
September 19, 1986 Hollywood, Los Angeles, California | (aged 79)
Other names | The "Black Valentino" |
Years active | 1927-1947 |
Spouse(s) | Pauline Segura |
Lorenzo Tucker (June 27, 1907 – August 19, 1986), known as the "Black Valentino," was an African-American stage and screen actor who played the romantic lead in the early black films of Oscar Micheaux.
Acting career[]
Born in Philadelphia, Tucker started acting at Temple University where he was a student.[1] Tucker also appeared early in his career with Bessie Smith on cross-country tours.[2]
From 1926 to 1946, Tucker appeared in 18 of Micheaux's films, including When Men Betray (1928); Wages of Sin (1929); Easy Street (1930); Harlem Big Show, Veiled Aristocrats (1932); Ten Minutes To Live (1932); Harlem After Midnight (1934); Temptation (1935); and Underworld (1937).[3] He became known as the "Black Valentino" because of his good looks and role as the romantic lead in the early black cinema.[3] Tucker noted the irony of the appellation since he believed Rudolph Valentino had a darker complexion than Tucker.[4] He became a movie star to black America and was often mentioned in the leading black newspapers.[1] One of Micheaux and Tucker's most controversial films was Veiled Aristocrats where Tucker played a black man who passed as white and tried to persuade his sister also to pass for white.[1] He also made an uncredited cameo appearance with Paul Robeson in 1933's The Emperor Jones.
Tucker was also a successful stage actor, appearing on Broadway in The Constant Sinner, Ol' Man Satan, and Humming Sam. His most controversial role came in The Constant Sinner in which he portrayed a pimp, Money Johnson, and in which Mae West was his prostitute, Babe Gordon. Though miscegenation was still outlawed in some parts of the south, the play included a scene in which Tucker kissed West. When the play opened in Washington, D.C., the press was outraged to see a black man kissing a white woman, and demands were made that the scene be excised from the play. West rejected demands, and the play left Washington.[1] The Shuberts refused to permit Tucker to play the role, and the Greek-American actor George Givot was hired to play the role wearing blackface.[5] Despite the Shuberts' decision, West cast Tucker in a few minor parts, including the role of a Spaniard who walks across the stage. When a woman asks West's character who that is, West responded, "Oh, he's Spanish — he's my Spanish fly!"[citation needed]
Later years[]
During World War II, Tucker was a tail gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps.[3] After the war, Tucker appeared in Louis Jordan's film Reet, Petite and Gone; in the early 1950s, he returned to the stage appearing in a London production of Anna Lucasta.
Tucker later became an autopsy technician for the New York City medical examiner, where he worked on the bodies of Malcolm X and Nina Mae McKinney.[1]
Tucker died of lung cancer at age 79 at his home in Hollywood, California. His funeral took place at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.[4]
Honors and awards[]
In 1974, Tucker was inducted into the Black Film Makers Hall of Fame,[1] and he received the Audelco Recognition Award in 1981.[3] On the November 14, 1985 "Denise Drives" episode of The Cosby Show, Clair Huxtable quizzes Denise Huxtable on car safety asking if she should stop her car for a stranger on a dark rainy night with "hair like Lorenzo Tucker, eyes like Billy Dee and a smile like Nat King Cole."[6]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Lorenzo Tucker - Biography". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0875926/bio.
- ↑ "Lorenzo Tucker Biography". allmovie.com. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:72042.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Lorenzo Tucker Dies; Stage and Screen Actor". The New York Times. 1986-08-30. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE4DC163AF933A0575BC0A960948260.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Burt A. Folkart (1986-08-21). "Lorenzo Tucker, `Black Valentino,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58006457.html?dids=58006457:58006457&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Aug+21%2C+1986&author=BURT+A.+FOLKART&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Lorenzo+Tucker%2C+%60Black+Valentino%2C'+Dies&pqatl=google.
- ↑ Watts, Jill. Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. Oxford University Press, 2001. p 136.
- ↑ Ron Avery (1986-10-30). "Film Prof Resurrects Black Star". Philadelphia Daily News. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DN&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI%7CDN&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB299290DF07066&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM.
Bibliography[]
- Richard Grupenhoff. The Black Valentino: The Stage and Screen Career of Lorenzo Tucker. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8108-2078-1
External links[]
- Lorenzo Tucker at the Internet Movie Database
- Lorenzo Tucker at AllMovie
- Lorenzo Tucker at Find a Grave
The original article can be found at Lorenzo Tucker and the edit history here.