Canada Lee
Biography
Canada Lee (born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata; March 3, 1907 – May 9, 1952) was an American professional boxer and then an actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. After careers as a jockey, boxer and musician, he became an actor in the Federal Theatre Project, including the 1936 production of Macbeth adapted and directed by Orson Welles. A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, Lee was blacklisted and died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He advanced the African American tradition in theatre pioneered by such actors as Paul Robeson.
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Full filmography
- Miami Vice (1984) as Shango
- Lifeboat (1944) as Joe Spencer
- Body and Soul (1947) as Ben Chaplin
- Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998) as Stephen Kumalo (archive footage)
- Cry, the Beloved Country (1951) as Stephen Kumalo
- Lost Boundaries (1949) as Lt. 'Dixie' Thompson
- Keep Punching (1939) as Speedy Joe Williams (Henry's Trainer)
- Henry Browne, Farmer (1942) as Narrator (voice)