Born just after the turn of the century in Louisiana, Mantan began running away from home at age 12 to join circuses and medicine shows, only to be brought back time and again. During these times he sharpened his comic skills and developed routines and acts that eventually became popular on the vaudeville stage, or what was then called the "chitlin' circuit." A solo performer by nature, he often teamed up with other famous comics (such as Ben Carter) to keep working, and became a deft performer of "indefinite talk" routines, where two quicksilver comics continually topped each other in mid-sentence, as if reading each other's mind (i.e., "Say, did you see...?" "Saw him just yesterday...didn't look so good"). Mantan's focus gradually shifted his trade toward film, where he initially appeared in servile bits (shoeshine men, porters, waiters). However, his talent for making people laugh couldn't be overlooked and he soon earned featured status in Harlem-styled western parodies and grade "A" comedy films playing the superstitious, ever-terrified manservant running from any kind of impending doom. Moreland's peak in movies came with his recurring role as Birmingham, the skittish chauffeur, in the "Charlie Chan" series, where he was forever forewarning his boss to stay away from an obviously dangerous case or situation. Though haunted mansions were an ideal place for setting off his stereotyped character, Mantan would be haunted in a different way by this Hollywood success in years to follow. By the 1950s, racial attitudes began to change and, with the rise of the civil rights movement, what was once considered hilarious was now interpreted as demeaning and offensive to both blacks and whites. Mantan and others, such as Stepin Fetchit, were ostracized and ridiculed by Hollywood for their past negative portrayals. It took decades for audiences to forgive and newer generations to forget the Depression-era comedy of Mantan Moreland in order for the actor to come back. In the late 1960s he managed a modest resurgence on TV and in commercials and occasional films, allowing him to work again with such comic heavyweights as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and director Carl Reiner. It was all too brief, however, for Mantan, long suffering from ill health, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973, just as he was settling in to his renewed popularity. Today, audiences tend to be kinder and more understanding of Moreland, remembering him as a highly talented comic who, in the only way he knew, broke major barriers and opened the doors for others black actors to follow.
107 movies · 4 shows
The Young Nurses
1973·4.0
Watermelon Man
1970·6.3
The Comic
1969·6.1
Spider Baby
1967·6.9
Enter Laughing
1967·4.8
The Patsy
1964·6.2
Rockin' the Blues
1956·6.0
Sky Dragon
1949·8.0
Come On, Cowboy!
1949·7.0
The Feathered Serpent
1948·6.1
The Golden Eye
1948·5.6
She's Too Mean for Me
1948·10.0
The Shanghai Chest
1948·6.6
The Dreamer
1948·7.0
Docks of New Orleans
1948·6.1
What a Guy
1948·7.0
The Chinese Ring
1947·5.1
Return of Mandy's Husband
1947·7.0
The Trap
1946·6.8
Mantan Runs for Mayor
1946·8.0
Shadows Over Chinatown
1946·6.2
Tall, Tan and Terrific
1946·7.0
Dark Alibi
1946·6.3
Riverboat Rhythm
1946·6.3
Mantan Messes Up
1946·8.0
The Spider
1945·5.6
She Wouldn't Say Yes
1945·6.4
Captain Tugboat Annie
1945·8.0
The Shanghai Cobra
1945·6.0
The Scarlet Clue
1945·6.0
The Jade Mask
1945·6.1
Bowery to Broadway
1944·10.0
Black Magic
1944·7.1
South of Dixie
1944·10.0
This Is the Life
1944·6.0
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
1944·6.5
Pin Up Girl
1944·6.3
Moon Over Las Vegas
1944·10.0
See Here, Private Hargrove
1944·6.5
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
1944·6.1
Chip Off the Old Block
1944·7.0
Swing Fever
1943·6.0
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
1943·3.5
Revenge of the Zombies
1943·5.4
Melody Parade
1943·8.0
We've Never Been Licked
1943·6.5
Sarong Girl
1943·7.0
Hit the Ice
1943·6.0
He Hired the Boss
1943·5.3
Slightly Dangerous
1943·6.0
Cabin in the Sky
1943·6.5
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
1943·4.6
Andy Hardy's Double Life
1942·5.0
Eyes in the Night
1942·6.1
Girl Trouble
1942·8.3
Phantom Killer
1942·5.3
A-Haunting We Will Go
1942·6.2
Footlight Serenade
1942·6.5
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
1942·4.8
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
1942·5.5
Tarzan's New York Adventure
1942·6.4
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
1942·5.2
Professor Creeps
1942·7.0
Lucky Ghost
1942·5.4
Law of the Jungle
1942·5.6
Treat 'Em Rough
1942·8.0
Four Jacks and a Jill
1942·6.5
Freckles Comes Home
1942·5.8
Marry the Boss's Daughter
1941·9.0
Birth of the Blues
1941·6.2
It Started with Eve
1941·7.2
Let's Go Collegiate
1941·5.4
Dressed to Kill
1941·6.3
Cracked Nuts
1941·7.0
The Gang's All Here
1941·5.4
King of the Zombies
1941·5.2
Sign of the Wolf
1941·7.0
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
1941·6.5
Sleepers West
1941·6.4
You're Out of Luck
1941·6.5
Up Jumped the Devil
1941·10.0
Four Shall Die
1940·8.0
Drums of the Desert
1940·5.5
While Thousands Cheer
1940·7.0
Up in the Air
1940·5.8
Laughing at Danger
1940·9.0
Maryland
1940·6.5
On the Spot
1940·5.8
Girl in 313
1940·5.6
Viva Cisco Kid
1940·6.4
Star Dust
1940·5.7
Millionaire Playboy
1940·4.5
Chasing Trouble
1940·5.5
City of Chance
1940·5.6
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
1940·5.3
Irish Luck
1939·6.4
Riders of the Frontier
1939·7.0
Tell No Tales
1939·5.4
One Dark Night
1939·8.0
Gang Smashers
1938·9.0
Next Time I Marry
1938·7.2
Frontier Scout
1938·6.0
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
1938·4.8
Spirit of Youth
1938·6.1
Harlem on the Prairie
1937·7.5
The Green Pastures
1936·6.3
That's the Spirit
1933·5.7