Lorenzo Tucker

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Lorenzo Tucker
Lorenzo Tucker, star of the early black cinema
Born	Lorenzo Tucker June 27, 1907(1907-06-27) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	September 19, 1986 (aged 79) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Other name(s)	The "Black Valentino"
Years active	1927-1947
Spouse(s)	Pauline Segura

Lorenzo Tucker (June 27, 1907 – August 19, 1986), known as the "Black Valentino," was an African-American stage and screen actor who played the romantic lead in the early black films of Oscar Micheaux.

1 Acting career
2 Later years
3 Honors and awards
4 References
5 External links
6 Further reading on Tucker

[edit] Acting career

Born in Philadelphia, Tucker started acting at Temple University where he was a student.^[1] Tucker also appeared early in his career with Bessie Smith on cross-country tours.^[2]

From 1926 to 1946, Tucker appeared in 18 of Micheaux's films, including When Men Betray (1928); Wages of Sin (1929); Easy Street (1930); Harlem Big Show, Veiled Aristocrats (1932); Ten Minutes To Live (1932); Harlem After Midnight (1934); Temptation (1935); and Underworld (1937).^[3] He became known as the "Black Valentino" because of his good looks and role as the romantic lead in the early black cinema.^[3] Tucker noted the irony of the appellation since he believed Rudolph Valentino had a darker complexion than Tucker.^[4]^[5] He became a movie star to black America and was often mentioned in the leading black newspapers.^[1] One of Micheaux and Tucker's most controversial films was Veiled Aristocrats where Tucker played a black man who passed as white and tried to persuade his sister also to pass for white.^[1] He also made an uncredited cameo appearance with Paul Robeson in 1933's The Emperor Jones.

Tucker was also a successful stage actor, appearing on Broadway in The Constant Sinner, Ol' Man Satan, and Humming Sam. His most controversial role came in The Constant Sinner in which he portrayed a pimp, Money Johnson, and in which Mae West was his prostitute, Babe Gordon. Though miscegenation was still outlawed in some parts of the south, the play included a scene in which Tucker kissed West. When the play opened in Washington, D.C., the press was outraged to see a black man kissing a white woman, and demands were made that the scene be excised from the play. West rejected demands, and the play left Washington.^[1] The Shuberts refused to permit Tucker to play the role, and a Greek actor was hired to play the role wearing blackface.^[4]^[6] Despite the Shuberts' decision, West cast Tucker in a few minor parts, including the role of a Spaniard who walks across the stage. When a woman asks West's character who that is, West responded, "Oh, he's Spanish — he's my Spanish fly!"^[4]

[edit] Later years

During World War II, Tucker was a tail gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps.^[3] After the war, Tucker appeared in Louis Jordan's film Reet, Petite and Gone; in the early 1950s, he returned to the stage appearing in a London production of Anna Lucasta.

Tucker later became an autopsy technician for the New York City medical examiner, where he worked on the bodies of Malcolm X and Nina Mae McKinney.^[1]

Tucker died of lung cancer at age 79 at his home in Hollywood, California. His funeral took place at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.^[5]

[edit] Honors and awards

In 1974, Tucker was inducted into the Black Film Makers Hall of Fame,^[1] and he received the Audelco Recognition Award in 1981.^[3] In the 1980s, Tucker was used as a point of reference in an episode of The Cosby Show. In the episode, Cosby's TV wife tells her daughter, "Never get in a car with a stranger - not even if he's as suave and handsome as Lorenzo Tucker."^[7]