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Canada Lee is a Actor American born on 3 march 1907 at New York City (USA)

Canada Lee

Canada Lee
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Birth name Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata
Nationality USA
Birth 3 march 1907 at New York City (USA)
Death 9 may 1952 (at 45 years) at New York City (USA)

Canada Lee (March 3, 1907 – May 9, 1952) was an American actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. After careers as a jockey, boxer and musician, he became an actor in the Federal Theatre Project and stage productions by Orson Welles. A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, he was blacklisted and died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Lee furthered the African-American tradition in theatre pioneered by such actors as Paul Robeson. Lee is the father of actor Carl Lee.

Biography

D'abord boxeur (catégorie poids welters) de 1926 à 1933, il entame une carrière d'acteur au théâtre en 1934, sous le pseudonyme de Canada Lee.

En particulier, il joue à Broadway (New York) dans dix-huit pièces, entre 1934 et 1948. La troisième en 1936 est Macbeth de William Shakespeare, mise en scène par Orson Welles qui transpose l'action aux Caraïbes, la distribution étant exclusivement afro-américaine, lui-même interprétant Banquo (cette adaptation est également connue sous le titre de Voodoo Macbeth ). Le même Welles dirige en 1941 Un enfant du pays, adaptation du roman éponyme de Richard Wright, avec notamment John Berry, Joseph Pevney et Erskine Sanford (cette production de John Houseman et Orson Welles étant reprise en 1942-1943). Mentionnons encore La Tempête de Shakespeare en 1945 (où il personnifie Caliban), avec Arnold Moss et Vera Zorina, ainsi que La Duchesse d'Amalfi de John Webster en 1946, avec Elisabeth Bergner et John Carradine (lequel débute alors à Broadway).

Au cinéma — outre quatre documentaires comme lui-même —, Canada Lee contribue à quatre films américains, le premier sorti en 1939 étant un film de boxe. Le deuxième est Lifeboat d'Alfred Hitchcock (1944, avec Tallulah Bankhead et William Bendix). Le troisième, Sang et Or de Robert Rossen (1947, avec John Garfield et Lilli Palmer), est également un film de boxe.

Son dernier film américain (Frontières oubliées d'Alfred L. Werker, avec Mel Ferrer) sort en 1949, année où il est dénoncé en tant que communiste — pourtant, il est avant tout un militant des droits civiques des afro-américains, à un moment où sévit la ségrégation —. Lorsque s'ouvre la période du maccarthysme en 1950, il se retrouve alors sur liste noire.

Aussi, son cinquième et ultime film, Pleure, ô pays bien-aimé de Zoltan Korda, est britannique. Dans cette adaptation du roman éponyme d'Alan Paton dénonçant l'apartheid, il tient le rôle principal de Stephen Kumalo (repris par James Earl Jones dans le remake de 1995), aux côtés de Sidney Poitier.

Durant le tournage en 1951, il est victime d'une première crise cardiaque. Ce dernier film est présenté le 23 janvier 1952 dans sa ville natale de New York, où il meurt prématurément à peine plus de trois mois après, d'une nouvelle crise cardiaque cette fois fatale.

Notons encore qu'à la télévision, Canada Lee apparaît dans une série américaine dédiée au théâtre (deux épisodes, diffusés en 1950).

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Canada Lee (7 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Cry, the Beloved Country, 1h43
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about racism
Actors Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson, Geoffrey Keen, Joyce Carey, Michael Goodliffe
Roles Stephen Kumalo
Rating68% 3.4395153.4395153.4395153.4395153.439515
In the back country of South Africa, black minister Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee) journeys to the city to search for his missing son Absolom, only to find his people living in squalor and Absolom a criminal after committing murder. Kumalo's friend and fellow minister, Reverend Misimangu (Sidney Poitier) is a young South African clergyman who helps find Kumalo's sons and sister-turned-prostitute in the slums of Johannesburg. Both work together to confront the harsh reality of apartheid and what it is doing to both white and black South Africans.
Lost Boundaries, 1h37
Directed by Alfred L. Werker
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography
Actors Mel Ferrer, Susan Douglas Rubes, Peter Hobbs, Carleton Carpenter, Parker Fennelly, Leigh Whipper
Roles Lt. 'Dixie' Thompson
Rating69% 3.4837253.4837253.4837253.4837253.483725
In 1922, Scott Mason Carter (Mel Ferrer) graduates from Chase Medical School in Chicago and promptly marries Marcia (Beatrice Pearson). Both are light-skinned enough to be mistaken for whites. Scott has found an internship for himself, but his fellow graduate, the dark-skinned Jesse Pridham (Ray Saunders), wonders if he will have to work as a Pullman porter until there is an opening in a black hospital.
Body and Soul, 1h44
Directed by Robert Rossen, Robert Aldrich
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Sports films, Martial arts films, Boxing films, Le boxe anglaise
Actors John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere, William Conrad, Joseph Pevney
Roles Ben Chaplin
Rating75% 3.7900353.7900353.7900353.7900353.790035
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
Lifeboat
Lifeboat (1944)
, 1h36
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, La bataille de l'Atlantique, Political films, Children's films, Disaster films, Films about seafaring accidents or incidents
Actors Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull
Roles Joe Spencer
Rating75% 3.7982553.7982553.7982553.7982553.798255
Several British and U.S. civilians, service members and merchant marines are stuck in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic after their ship and a U-boat sink each other in combat. Willi (Walter Slezak), a German survivor, is pulled aboard and denies being the U-boat's captain. During an animated debate, Kovac (John Hodiak) demands the German be thrown out to drown. However, the others object, with Stanley (Hume Cronyn), wealthy industrialist Rittenhouse (Henry Hull) and columnist Connie Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), who speaks German, succeeding in arguing that he be allowed to stay. Porter, initially alone in the boat, had managed to bring her luggage with her, and her primary concern at first is a run in her stocking. She is thrilled at having filmed the battle between the two vessels, but her movie camera is the first in a series of her possessions to be lost overboard in a succession of incidents.