Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts) PDF
Preview Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts)
Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. ScienceFictionLiterature,byBrianStableford, 2004. 2. HongKongCinema,byLisaOdham Stokes, 2007. 3. AmericanRadioSoapOperas,byJim Cox,2005. 4. JapaneseTraditional Theatre,bySamuel L. Leiter, 2006. 5. FantasyLiterature,byBrianStableford,2005. 6. AustralianandNew ZealandCinema,byAlbert MoranandErrol Vieth,2006. 7. African-AmericanTelevision,byKathleenFearn- Banks, 2006. 8. LesbianLiterature,byMeredithMiller,2006. 9. ScandinavianLiteratureandTheater,byJanSjåvik, 2006. 10.British Radio,bySeánStreet,2006. 11.GermanTheater,byWilliam Grange,2006. 12.AfricanAmericanCinema,byS.TorrianoBerry andVeniseT. Berry,2007. 13.SacredMusic,byJosephP.Swain,2006. 14.RussianTheater,byLaurenceSenelick,2007. Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema i Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema S. Torriano Berry Venise T. Berry Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 12 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2007 SCARECROW PRESS,INC. PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica byScarecrowPress,Inc. Awhollyownedsubsidiaryof TheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.scarecrowpress.com EstoverRoad PlymouthPL67PY UnitedKingdom Copyright©2007byS.TorrianoBerryandVeniseT.Berry Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyany means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Berry,Torriano. HistoricaldictionaryofAfricanAmericancinema/S.TorrianoBerry,Venise T.Berry. p.cm.— (Historicaldictionariesofliteratureandthearts;no.12) Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN-13:978-0-8108-5545-8(hardcover:alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-8108-5545-3(hardcover:alk.paper) 1.AfricanAmericansinmotionpictures. 2.AfricanAmericansinthemotion pictureindustry–Biography–Dictionaries. I.Berry,VeniseT. II.Title. PN1995.9.N4B4332007 791.43089'96073–dc22 2006019070 Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—Permanenceof PaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. WearethankfultoourGodandourguardianangel,Toni,forourmany blessings.Wearethankfulto ourparentsand familymembersfortheir ongoing love and support. We are thankful to our friends and colleagues who have encouraged and fostered this effort. We are thankful to Jon Woronoff, Nicole McCullough, Scarecrow Press, and the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. for providing the opportunity to document this extraordinaryenterprise. We are thankful tothetalentedAfricanAmericanactors,actresses,directors,producers, writers, and other film industry personnel who have enriched our lives andourculturethroughtheircreativeendeavors. v Contents Editor’s Foreword JonWoronoff ix AcronymsandAbbreviations xi Chronology xiii Introduction xxiii THEDICTIONARY 1 Appendixes A NAACPImageAwardWinners 371 B AfricanAmericanAcademyAwardWinners 375 C AfricanAmericanGoldenGlobeAwardWinners 377 D BlackFilmmakersHallofFameInductees 379 E Top-GrossingAfricanAmericanFilms 381 F Top-GrossingFilmsDirectedbyAfricanAmerican Women 383 G Top-GrossingFilmsDirectedbyAfricanAmericanMen 385 Bibliography 387 InternetSources 391 AbouttheAuthors 393 vii Editor’s Foreword African American cinema is in a very different category from the vari- ous “national cinemas” included in this subseries. Unlike the French, Russians, or Germans, the African Americans first had to reclaimtheir own cinematic image before theycould turnitinto a thingofrepresen- tation and beauty. Launched just over a century ago, most of the early filmsactuallyhadwhiteactorswithburntcork-coveredfacesportraying black roles, and the stories were humiliating, to say the least. It took decades before there were enough black actors, producers, directors, scriptwriters,andfilmcompaniestoaddressthestereotypesandattempt to turn the situation around. Eventually, since there was money to be made, Hollywood joined in. Nowadays, African American cinema is considered quite normal. It can deal not only with the discrimination and hardships ofthe past, butvirtuallyanysubjectcanbe presented on the screen from love and marriage to hatred and revenge, in every genre, whether comedyor tragedy, farce or science fiction. True, ithas gained its own movies and stars, but these have increasingly become partofthemainstream,anditscontributiontocinemabothasanindus- tryandanarthasbecomeindispensable. The fact that this has been a long, hard climb from a particularly lowlevelisshownclearlyinthechronology,withoutwhichthisvolume might be hard to understand. The various stages in the progression are characterized in the introduction. But the dictionary section will be of greatest interest to readers, with hundreds of entries on notable actors andactresses,singers,dancers,andcomedians,aswellagrowingcircle ofdirectors,producers,cinematographers,andscriptwriters.Somegen- eral topics, such as race movies, film genres, and stereotypes, are also included. Other entries briefly summarize the better-known films, old and new, good and bad, Academy Award winners and cult classics. ix Editor’s Foreword x Details on casts and filmographies only enhance the value of these en- tries. The bibliographypoints readers toward other sourcesofinforma- tiononacinemathatdeservestobebetterknown. A brother and sister team wrote this latest volume in the subseries on cinema. Both of them have a very strong interest and impressive standinginthe field. S. Torriano Berryhaswrittentwonovelsandalso produced several independent film and television productions, includ- ing two episodic series that showcase black films. He is currently an associate professor at Howard University’s DepartmentofRadio, Tele- vision,andFilminWashington,D.C.VeniseT.Berryhaswrittenthree best-sellingnovelsand co-edited a nonfictionwork.Sheispresentlyan associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Together, S. Torriano Berry and VeniseT.BerrycollaboratedonThe50MostInfluentialBlackFilms,a very useful reference work, which helped pave the way for this latest contribution,HistoricalDictionaryofAfricanAmericanCinema,which finallyfillsmanygaps. JonWoronoff SeriesEditor Acronyms and Abbreviations ABC AmericanBroadcastingCompany AFI AmericanFilmInstitute BACS BlackAmericanCinemaSociety BET BlackEntertainmentTelevision BFC/A BlackFilmCenter/Archive BFF BlackFilmmakersFoundation BFHF BlackFilmmakersHallofFame BHERC BlackHollywoodEducationandResourceCenter BCC BlackCinemaCafe CBS ColumbiaBroadcastingSystem DVD DigitalVideoDisc FOX 20thCenturyFox HBO HomeBoxOffice MGM MetroGoldwynMayer NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo- ple NBC NationalBroadcastingCompany NBPC NationalBlackProgrammingConsortium NFL NationalFootballLeague SAG ScreenActorsGuild TV Television UCLA UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles UPN UnitedParamountNetwork USC UniversityofSouthernCalifornia VCR VideoCassetteRecorder xi
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