Clarence Muse
Known For: Acting
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: October 13, 1889
Day of Death: October 13, 1979 (90 years old)
Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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).
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1943
Actor Pullman Porter
Shadow of a Doubt
Actor Colonial Club Doorman (uncredited)
The Sky's the Limit
Actor Horace
Watch on the Rhine
Actor Jeff (uncredited)
Flesh and Fantasy
Actor Jasper (uncredited)
Heaven Can Wait
Actor George
Sherlock Holmes in Washington
Actor Porter
Honeymoon Lodge
Actor Sam
Over the Wall
Actor Butler
Johnny Come Lately
1942
1941
Actor Robert - Hat Check Man at Party
Love Crazy
Actor Evans the Butler
Invisible Ghost
Actor Samuel, Carriage Driver
The Flame of New Orleans
Actor
Among the Living
Actor Old Jeff
Kisses for Breakfast
Actor Sam (uncredited)
Adam Had Four Sons
Actor Bootblack in Saloon (uncredited)
Belle Starr
Actor Jupe
Gentleman from Dixie
1940
1939
1938
1937
1936
1935
1934
1933
Actor Chauffeur
The Wrecker
Actor Caddy in Haiti (uncredited)
Flying Down to Rio
Actor Self
Hollywood on Parade No. A-12
Actor Abraham Jackson
Laughter in Hell
Actor Sam
From Hell to Heaven
Actor Sam
The Mind Reader
Actor Sunrise
Fury of the Jungle
Actor Voice of Singer (uncredited)
Frisco Jenny
Actor Masseur
The Life of Jimmy Dolan
1932
Actor Smoke Johnson
Man Against Woman
Actor Rosebud, the Trainer
Winner Take All
Actor Curfew
Lena Rivers
Actor Horatio
Is My Face Red?
Actor Tombeau
The Woman from Monte Carlo
Actor Tim Washington, the Doorman
Night World
Actor Clarence
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Actor Rascal
Hell's Highway
Actor Death Row Singing Prisoner (uncredited)
If I Had a Million
Actor Jefferson Q. Leffingwell
Attorney for the Defense
Actor Nightclub Singer (uncredited)
Big City Blues
Actor Taylor Tibbs
The Wet Parade
Actor A Blind Negro
The Cabin in the Cotton
Actor Shoeshine Man
The Death Kiss
Actor Coach driver
White Zombie
Original Music Composer
Hell's Highway
1931
Actor Eustace Brown
X Marks the Spot
Actor Jonas Polk
Secret Service
Actor Nham
Prestige
Actor Alabam' / Singing Voice of Condemned Man (uncredited)
The Last Parade
Actor Jim
Huckleberry Finn
Actor Newcastle
Safe in Hell
Actor Jeff - Building Janitor
The Secret Witness
Actor Clarence
Dirigible
Actor Curfew
The Fighting Sheriff
