In honor of TCM and their “Summer Under the Stars” series, we launch our companion series, Summer Madness. The series will spotlight the achievements and films of one Black actor, daily throughout the month of August.
Day 7
Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to “star” in a film. He acted for more than sixty years and appeared in more than 150 movies. During the 1920s, Muse was acting in New York during the Harlem Renaissance with two Harlem theaters, Lincoln Players, and Lafayette Players. He appeared in the first all-black movie, Hearts in Dixie (1929).
Over the next fifty years, he worked regularly in minor and major roles. In 1943, he became the first African-American Broadway director with Run Little Chillun. He was the major star in Broken Earth (1936), 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). The film was notable for its casting of African-American actors in central roles, and for tackling racial issues in the South.
Muse also performed in Broken Strings (1940), as a concert violinist who opposes the desire of his son to play “swing”. In 1959, he played Peter, the Honey Man, in the film Porgy and Bess, with Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, and Sammy Davis Jr. 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). #SummerMadness #Muse
Recommended films:
Hearts of Dixie (’29)
Broken Earth (’36)
Spirit of Youth (’38)
Broken Strings (’40)
Car Wash (’76)
