Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1969) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Ingram graduated from the Northwestern University medical school in 1919 and was the first African-American man to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from there. He went to Hollywood as a young man where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), starring Elmo Lincoln. He made his (uncredited) screen debut in that film and had many other small roles, usually as a generic black native, such as in the Tarzan films. With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version), The Thief of Bagdad (1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943). From 1929, he also appeared on stage, making his debut on Broadway. He appeared in more than a dozen Broadway productions, with his final role coming in Kwamina in 1961. He was in the original cast of Haiti (1938), Cabin in the Sky (1940), and St. Louis Woman (1946). He is one of the few actors to have played both God (in The Green Pastures) and the Devil (in Cabin in the Sky). In 1966 he played Tee-Tot in the movie Your Cheatin' Heart. Ingram was arrested for violating the Mann Act in 1948. Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He served just ten months of his sentence, but the incident had a serious effect on his career for the next six years. In 1962, he became the first African-American actor to be hired for a contract role on a soap opera, when he appeared on The Brighter Day. He had other work in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Rex Ingram died of a heart attack at the age of 73. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]

Filmography

• 2008Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad — Djinn (archival footage)
• The Bill Cosby Show — George
• 1968Journey to Shiloh — Jacob
• Cowboy in Africa — Nhinga, Dr. Tom Merar
• 1967Hurry Sundown — Prof. Thurlow
• Daktari — Natoma, Chief Makubu
• Branded — Hannibal - Valet
• 1964Your Cheatin' Heart — Teetot
• Sam Benedict — Judge Larkin
• 1960Desire in the Dust — Burt Crane
• 1960Elmer Gantry — Preacher of Black Congregation (uncredited)
• Black Saddle — Alex Booth
• 1959Escort West — Nelson Walker
• 1959Watusi — Umbopa
• 1958Anna Lucasta — Joe Lucasta
• 1958God's Little Acre — Uncle Felix
• The Rifleman — Thaddeus
• 1956Congo Crossing — Dr. Leopold Gorman
• 1956The Ten Commandments — Bit Part (uncredited)
• Gunsmoke — Juba
• 1955Tarzan's Hidden Jungle — Sukulu Chieftain
• Climax! — Petraca
• 1948Moonrise — Mose
• Kraft Television Theatre — Lem
• 1947Shoe Shine Jasper — (voice)
• 1946John Henry and the Inky-Poo — Narrator / John Henry (voice)
• 1945A Thousand and One Nights — Giant
• 1945Adventure — Preacher (unconfirmed)
• 1944Dark Waters — Pearson Jackson
• 1944Jasper's Paradise — (voice)
• 1943Cabin in the Sky — Lucius / Lucifer Jr.
• 1943Fired Wife — Charles
• 1943Sahara — Sgt. Maj. Tambul
• 1942The Talk of the Town — Tilney
• 1941Hoola Boola — Narrator (voice)
• 1941The Gay Knighties — Narrator (voice)
• 1940The Thief of Bagdad — Djinn
• 1939Let My People Live — Dr. Gordon
• 1939The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Jim
• 1936The Green Pastures — De Lawd / Adam / Hezdrel
• 1934Harlem After Midnight
• 1933Emperor Jones — Court Crier
• 1929The Four Feathers — Fuzzy Wuzzy Native
• 1927The King of Kings — (uncredited)
• 1923The Ten Commandments — Israelite Slave (uncredited)
• 1918Tarzan of the Apes — (uncredited)

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 1973The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli — Self (archive footage)
• 1961The Legend of Rudolph Valentino — Self (archive footage)