William Marshall (actor)
William Marshall | |
---|---|
File:William Horace Marshall.jpg | |
Born | William Horace Marshall August 19, 1924 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
Died | June 11, 2003 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 78)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1952–1996 |
Children | Claude Marshall (1954-2012) Malcolm Juarez (1969-2005) Gina Loring (b. 1978) Tariq Marshall (b. 1986) |
William Horace Marshall (August 19, 1924 – June 11, 2003) was an American actor, director, and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), as the "King of Cartoons" on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse beginning with its second season, and an appearance as Dr. Richard Daystrom on the original Star Trek television series. He had a commanding height of 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), as well as a deep bass voice.[1]
Biography
Early life and career
Marshall was born in Gary, Indiana,[2] the son of Thelma (née Edwards) and Vereen Marshall, who was a dentist.[3] He attended New York University as an art student, but then trained for a theatre career at the Actors Studio, at the American Theatre Wing, and with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.[4]
He made his Broadway debut in 1944 in Carmen Jones. Among his many other Broadway appearances, he understudied Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in Peter Pan in 1950, then played the leading role of De Lawd in the 1951 revival of The Green Pastures (a role he repeated in a BBC telecast of the play in 1958).[3] [5] He performed in Shakespeare plays many times on the stage in the United States and Europe, including the title role in at least six productions of Othello. His Othello (which was later captured in a video production in 1981), was called by Harold Hobson of the London Sunday Times "the best Othello of our time,"[6] continuing:
...nobler than [Godfrey] Tearle, more martial than [John] Gielgud, more poetic than [Frederick] Valk. From his first entry, slender and magnificently tall, framed in a high Byzantine arch, clad in white samite, mystic, wonderful, a figure of Arabian romance and grace, to his last plunging of the knife into his stomach, Mr Marshall rode without faltering the play's enormous rhetoric, and at the end the house rose to him.[7]
Marshall even played Othello in a jazz musical version, Catch My Soul, with Jerry Lee Lewis as Iago, with Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 1968.[8]
He also portrayed the roles of Paul Robeson and Frederick Douglass on stage. Marshall had researched Douglass' life for years and portrayed him on television in Frederick Douglass: Slave and Statesman, which he co-produced in 1983.[9]
Film and television career
Marshall's career on screen began in the 1952 film Lydia Bailey as a Haitian leader. He followed that with a prominent role as Glycon, comrade and fellow gladiator to Victor Mature in the 1954 film Demetrius and the Gladiators. His demeanor, voice and stature gave him a wide range, though he was ill-suited for the subservient roles that many black actors of his generation were most frequently offered. He was a leader of the Mau-Mau uprising in Something of Value (1957), and Attorney General Edward Brooke in The Boston Strangler (1968). He probably received the most notice for his role in the vampire film Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream. In later years, Marshall played the King of Cartoons on Pee-wee's Playhouse, replacing actor Gilbert Lewis, during the 1980s. (The character's catchphrase "Let...the cartoooon...begin!" became immensely popular.)
In the early 1950s, Marshall starred briefly in a series about black police officers, entitled Harlem Detective. The show was canceled when Marshall was named as a communist in the anti-communist newsletter Counterattack.[10]
Despite the blacklisting because of his supposed communist connections, Marshall managed to continue appearing in both television and films. In 1962, Marshall appeared on the British spy series Danger Man in the episode titled "Deadline" and in 1964 Marshall played the role of travelling opera singer Thomas Bowers on the Bonanza episode "Enter Thomas Bowers." Additionally in 1964, he appeared, with actor Ivan Dixon, as the leader of a newly independent African nation and as a T.H.R.U.S.H. agent in the first-season episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. entitled "The Vulcan Affair". In 1968 he appeared as Dr. Richard Daystrom in the Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer". In 1969, he had a special guest appearance as the character Amalek in an episode of The Wild Wild West entitled "The Night of the Egyptian Queen".
He also won two local Emmys for producing and performing in a PBS production, As Adam Early in the Morning, a theatre piece originally performed on stage.[1] He also was featured in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled, "The Jar", with actors Pat Buttram and George Lindsey.
Later life and death
In addition to acting and producing, Marshall taught acting at various universities including the University of California, Irvine, and the Mufandi Institute, an African-American arts and music institution in the Watts section of Los Angeles. He did similar work at Chicago's ETA Creative Arts Foundation, which in 1992 named Marshall one of its Epic Men of the 20th century.[1]
For 42 years, Marshall was the partner of Sylvia Gussin Jarrico, former wife of blacklisted screenwriter Paul Jarrico. Marshall died June 11, 2003, from complications arising from Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. He was survived by sons Tariq, Malcolm, and Claude Marshall and daughter Gina Loring. Eulogists at his funeral included Sidney Poitier, Ivan Dixon, Paul Winfield, and Marla Gibbs.[11]
Marshall was considered by many to be a much underrated actor and one who never got his due. Some have remarked that Marshall should have had a much more successful and larger screen career, even saying that Marshall would have been a perfect choice for the role Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian.[12]
Filmography
- Lydia Bailey (1952) - King Dick
- Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) - Glycon
- Something of Value (1957) - Leader - Intellectual in Suit
- Sabu and the Magic Ring (1957) - Ubal, the genie
- La fille de feu (1958) - Stork
- Piedra de toque (1963) - African Missionary (uncredited)
- To Trap a Spy (1964) - Sekue Ashumen
- The Hell with Heroes (1968) - Al Poland
- The Boston Strangler (1968) - Atty. Gen. Edward W. Brooke
- Skullduggery (1970) - Attorney General
- The Mask of Sheba (1970) - Captain Condor Sekallie
- Zig Zag (1970) - Morris Bronson
- Honky (1971) - Dr. Craig Smith
- Blacula (1972) - Blacula / Mamuwalde
- Scream Blacula Scream (1973) - Blacula / Mamuwalde
- Abby (1974) - Bishop Garnet Williams
- Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) - William Klinger - Attorney General
- The Great Skycopter Rescue (1980) - Mr. Jason
- Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter (1986) - Dr. Dean
- Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) - Pirate Captain (segment "Video Pirates")
- Maverick (1994) - Riverboat Poker Player
- Sorceress (1995) - John Geiger
- Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996) - Dr. Benjamin Michaels (final film role)
References
- ^ a b c "N/A". Long Beach Press-Telegram. May 26, 1952. p. 27.
- ^ Sebastian, Simone M. (June 22, 2003). "William Marshall, 78, Stage, screen actor starred in `Blacula'". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ a b "William Marshall Biography (1924-2003)". filmreference.com. July 1, 2015.
- ^ Associated Press (June 17, 2003). "William Marshall Biography (1924-2003)". CNN. Archived from the original on June 20, 2003.
- ^ "William Marshall Biography (1924-2003)". Internet Broadway Database. July 1, 2015.
- ^ "William Marshall, 'Blacula' actor, succumbs at 78". Jet Magazine. June 30, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ "William Marshall: Actor acclaimed for his noble Othello". The Independent. July 6, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (June 2000). Any Old Way You Choose It. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 978-0815410416. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ "1983 Peabody Awards entry form". Hargrett Library, University of Georgia. 1983.
{{cite journal}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ Caute, David (May 1, 1979). The Great Fear: The Anti-Communist Purge Under Truman and Eisenhower. Touchstone. ISBN 978-0671248482. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ "N/A". eXo News. July 9, 2003.
{{cite news}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ Puckett, Terek (February 27, 2013). "Lead Actors: The Overlooked and Underrated". Sound on Sight. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
External links
- William Marshall at Find a Grave
- William Marshall at IMDb
- William Marshall at the Internet Broadway Database
- In Loving Memory Of William-Marshall
- William Marshall at Memory Alpha
- The Associated Press (June 16, 2003). "'Blacula' Actor Dead At 78". CBS News. Retrieved September 17, 2007. Via CBS News.
- 1924 births
- 2003 deaths
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century opera singers
- African-American male actors
- African-American opera singers
- American male film actors
- American male stage actors
- American male television actors
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
- Male actors from Indiana
- People from Gary, Indiana
- University of California, Irvine faculty