Clarence Muse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first Negro to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years appearing in more than 150 movies. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Alexander and Mary Muse, he studied at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and received an international law degree in 1911. He was acting in New York by the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance with two Harlem theatres, Lincoln Players and Lafayette Players. Muse moved to Chicago for a while, and then moved to Hollywood and performed in Hearts in Dixie (1929), the first all-black movie. For the next fifty years, he worked regularly in minor and major roles. While with the Lafayette Players, Muse worked under the management of producer 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.". Muse appeared as an opera singer, minstrel show performer, vaudeville and Broadway actor; he also wrote songs, plays, and sketches. In 1943, he became the first African American Broadway director with Run Little Chillun. 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), and later became a signature song of Louis Armstrong. He was the major star in 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 incredible hardship of black farmers, with plowing scenes. 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). Muse performed in Broken Strings (1940), as a concert violinist who opposes the desire of his son to play "swing". From 1955-56, Muse was a regular on the weekly TV version of Casablanca, playing Sam the pianist (a part he was under consideration for in the original Warner Brothers film), and in 1959, he played Peter, the Honey Man, in Porgy and Bess. He appeared on Disney's TV miniseries The Swamp Fox. Other film credits include Buck and the Preacher (1972), The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) and as Gazenga's Assistant, "Snapper" in Car Wash (1976). His last acting role was in The Black Stallion (1979).

Known For: Acting

Born: Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 1889-10-13

Died: 1979-10-13

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1921	The Custard Nine		0
2	1929	Hearts in Dixie	Nappus	30
3	1929	Election Day	Farina's father	70
4	1929	Hallelujah	Church Member (uncredited)	66
5	1929	New York Nights	Cabaret Singer (uncredited)	48
6	1930	Guilty?	Jefferson	0
7	1930	A Royal Romance	Rusty	0
8	1930	Honey	Black Revivalist	50
9	1930	Swing High	Singer	65
10	1930	The Thoroughbred	Stablehand	47
11	1930	Rain or Shine	Nero	62
12	1930	Outside the Law	Party Guest (uncredited)	47
13	1930	Derelict	Driver (uncredited)	100
14	1931	The Last Parade	Alabam' / Singing Voice of Condemned Man (uncredited)	0
15	1931	Dirigible	Clarence	56
16	1931	The Fighting Sheriff	Curfew	0
17	1931	Huckleberry Finn	Jim	80
18	1931	Secret Service	Jonas Polk	60
19	1931	Safe in Hell	Newcastle	68
20	1931	The Secret Witness	Jeff - Building Janitor	30
21	1931	X Marks the Spot	Eustace Brown	60
22	1932	The Woman from Monte Carlo	Tombeau	50
23	1932	Prestige	Nham	55
24	1932	The Wet Parade	Taylor Tibbs	58
25	1932	Lena Rivers	Curfew	55
26	1932	Night World	Tim Washington, the Doorman	69
27	1932	Attorney for the Defense	Jefferson Q. Leffingwell	60
28	1932	Is My Face Red?	Horatio	50
29	1932	Winner Take All	Rosebud, the Trainer	53
30	1932	White Zombie	Coach driver	59
31	1932	Big City Blues	Nightclub Singer (uncredited)	53
32	1932	Hell's Highway	Rascal	62
33	1932	The Cabin in the Cotton	A Blind Negro	63
34	1932	Washington Merry-Go-Round	Clarence	67
35	1932	Man Against Woman	Smoke Johnson	35
36	1932	If I Had a Million	Death Row Singing Prisoner (uncredited)	67
37	1932	The Death Kiss	Shoeshine Man	51
38	1933	Laughter in Hell	Abraham Jackson	10
39	1933	Frisco Jenny	Voice of Singer (uncredited)	63
40	1933	From Hell to Heaven	Sam	72
41	1933	The Mind Reader	Sam	63
42	1933	The Life of Jimmy Dolan	Masseur	60
43	1933	Hollywood on Parade No. A-12	Self	0
44	1933	The Wrecker	Chauffeur	10
45	1933	Fury of the Jungle	Sunrise	0
46	1933	Flying Down to Rio	Caddy in Haiti (uncredited)	63
47	1934	Massacre	Sam	58
48	1934	A Very Honorable Guy	Black Man	20
49	1934	The Personality Kid	Shamrock	42
50	1934	Black Moon	'Lunch' McClaren	52
51	1934	Kid Millions	Native (uncredited)	65
52	1934	Broadway Bill	Whitey	60
53	1935	Red Hot Tires	Bud's Truck Partner	58
54	1935	Alias Mary Dow	'Rufe'	62
55	1935	After the Dance	Cook	60
56	1935	O'Shaughnessy's Boy	Jeff	60
57	1935	Harmony Lane	Old Joe	35
58	1935	East of Java	First Mate Johnson	60
59	1935	Beautiful Dreamer		0
60	1935	So Red the Rose	Cato	65
61	1936	Muss 'em Up	William	55
62	1936	Laughing Irish Eyes	Deacon	0
63	1936	The Broken Earth	The Farmer	10
64	1936	Show Boat	Sam	68
65	1936	Spendthrift	Restaurant Table Captain	50
66	1936	The Green Pastures	Angel (uncredited)	63
67	1936	Daniel Boone	Pompey	46
68	1936	Mysterious Crossing	Lincoln	0
69	1937	High Hat	Congo MacRosenbloom	50
70	1937	Deep South		60
71	1937	Jungle Menace	Lightning	50
72	1938	Spirit of Youth	Frankie Walburn	55
73	1938	The Toy Wife	Brutus	48
74	1938	Prison Train	Train Steward / Sam	60
75	1938	Secrets of a Nurse	'Tiger', Lee's Handler	30
76	1939	Way Down South	Uncle Caton	58
77	1940	Broken Strings	Arthur Williams	45
78	1940	Alice in Movieland	Train Porter	63
79	1940	Zanzibar	Bino	0
80	1940	Sporting Blood	Jeff	43
81	1940	Maryland	Reverend Bitters	62
82	1940	That Gang of Mine	Ben	56
83	1940	Murder Over New York	Party Server	61
84	1940	Chad Hanna	Henry Prince	60
85	1941	Adam Had Four Sons	Sam (uncredited)	60
86	1941	Invisible Ghost	Evans the Butler	51
87	1941	Love Crazy	Robert - Hat Check Man at Party	71
88	1941	Kisses for Breakfast	Old Jeff	55
89	1941	The Flame of New Orleans	Samuel, Carriage Driver	63
90	1941	Gentleman from Dixie	Jupe	60
91	1941	Belle Starr	Bootblack in Saloon (uncredited)	56
92	1941	Among the Living		60
93	1942	Twin Beds	George	27
94	1942	Tough as They Come	Eddie	0
95	1942	Tales of Manhattan	Grandpa (Robeson sequence)	63
96	1942	The Talk of the Town	Supreme Court Doorkeeper (uncredited)	73
97	1942	Strictly in the Groove	Durham's Valet (uncredited)	0
98	1942	The Black Swan	Margaret's Servant (uncredited)	64
99	1943	Shadow of a Doubt	Pullman Porter	75
100	1943	Sherlock Holmes in Washington	George	67
101	1943	The Sky's the Limit	Colonial Club Doorman (uncredited)	62
102	1943	Honeymoon Lodge	Porter	0
103	1943	Heaven Can Wait	Jasper (uncredited)	69
104	1943	Watch on the Rhine	Horace	67
105	1943	Johnny Come Lately	Butler	67
106	1943	Flesh and Fantasy	Jeff (uncredited)	68
107	1943	Over the Wall	Sam	0
108	1944	The Racket Man	George the Butler	70
109	1944	Jam Session	Henry	60
110	1944	Stars on Parade	Carter (uncredited)	0
111	1944	Double Indemnity	Man (uncredited)	81
112	1944	The Soul of a Monster	Entertainer (uncredited)	50
113	1944	In the Meantime, Darling	Henry	50
114	1944	San Diego I Love You	Porter (uncredited)	63
115	1944	The Thin Man Goes Home	Porter on Train (uncredited)	71
116	1945	Jungle Queen	Kyba	50
117	1945	Without Love	Train Porter	68
118	1945	God Is My Co-Pilot	Frank (uncredited)	70
119	1945	She Wouldn't Say Yes	Porter (uncredited)	59
120	1945	Scarlet Street	Ben - Bank Janitor (uncredited)	76
121	1946	Jungle Terror	Lightin'	0
122	1946	Two Smart People	Train Porter	64
123	1947	My Favorite Brunette	Second Man on Death Row (uncredited)	66
124	1947	A Likely Story	Porter (uncredited)	42
125	1947	The Peanut Man	Dr. George Washington Carver	0
126	1947	Welcome Stranger	Clarence, Train Waiter (uncredited)	66
127	1947	Joe Palooka in the Knockout	Smoky	60
128	1947	Unconquered	Jason	62
129	1948	An Act of Murder	Mr. Pope	68
130	1949	The Great Dan Patch	Voodoo	50
131	1950	Riding High	Whitey	58
132	1950	Katie Did It	Mose	60
133	1951	Apache Drums	Jehu	62
134	1951	My Forbidden Past	Pompey	57
135	1952	The Las Vegas Story	Train Porter (uncredited)	58
136	1952	Caribbean	Quashy	58
137	1953	Jamaica Run	Mose	50
138	1953	The Sun Shines Bright	Uncle Zack	65
139	1954	She Couldn't Say No	Diaper Delivery Man	56
140	1956	Jungle Safari	Kyba	40
141	1959	Porgy and Bess	Peter	61
142	1972	Buck and the Preacher	Cudjo	63
143	1973	The World's Greatest Athlete	Gazenga's Assistant	53
144	1973	A Dream for Christmas	Donald Freeland	60
145	1975	Black Shadows on a Silver Screen	Self (archive footage)	0
146	1976	Car Wash	Snapper	60
147	1977	Passing Through	Papa Harris	50
148	1979	The Black Stallion	Snoe	70

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Albert	63
2	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Phil	63
3	1955	Casablanca		100
4	1955	The 20th Century Fox Hour		54

Clarence Muse

Film

Television