Canada Lee
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.Lee was born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata on March 3, 1907, in the San Juan Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.[2][3]: 3–4 His father, James Cornelius Lionel Canegata, was born on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, and as a youth had migrated to New York, where he married Lydia Whaley Gadsen.[2][7] During his victorious 10-round bout with Andy Divodi at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 1929, Lee was dealt a blow over his right ear that detached his retina.Sponsored by New York's Civil Works Administration, the show toured the boroughs, playing at community centers and city parks into the fall of the year.[3]: 45–46 In October 1934, Lee succeeded Rex Ingram in the Theatre Union's revival of Stevedore,[8] which toured to Chicago, Detroit and other U.S. cities after its run on Broadway.[3]: 47–48 Lee then was cast in his first major role, Banquo, in the legendary Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth (1936), adapted and directed by Orson Welles.[13][14]: 64, 95 After five months in a supporting role, Lee succeeded Rex Ingram as the lead in the stage production Haiti (1938), portraying Haitian slave turned emperor Henri Christophe.[3]: 71 [15]: 256 As that regular series came to an end, he opened a restaurant at 102 West 136th Street, Canada Lee's Chicken Coop, which offered authentic South Carolina cuisine, jazz and blues.A 1938 Federal Theatre Project production, the play was remounted by the newly created Negro Playwrights Company, founded in New York by Ward, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Theodore Browne, Richard Wright and Alain Locke.[20] The sympathetic portrayal of a black man driven to murder by racial hatred brought much criticism however, especially from the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Legion of Decency, and the ensuing pressure forced the play to close.Lee testified that he attempted to round out the character by revising dialogue, primarily eliminating repeated "yessir"s and "nossir"s that sounded subservient,[23] and cutting some actions.The play spoke directly to the need for interracial housing following World War II and won the praise of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote weekly columns encouraging readers to see it.[29][30] In the autumn of 1946, Lee made American theatre history when he portrayed the villain Daniel de Bosola in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.[35] Langston Hughes, for instance, wrote two brief plays for Lee; these were submitted to the Theater Project, but their criticism of racism in America was deemed too controversial, and neither was staged.Lee spoke to schools, sponsored various humanitarian events, and began speaking directly against the existing segregation in America's armed forces, while simultaneously acknowledging the need to win World War II.To this latter end, he appeared at numerous USO events; he won an award from the United States Recruiting Office and another from the Treasury Department for his help in selling war bonds.Lee took on the role of surrogate father and introduced Geiger to Langston Hughes, Billy Strayhorn, Richard Wright, and Adam Clayton Powell.In 1949, the trade journal Variety stated that under no circumstance was Lee to be used in American Tobacco's televised production of a radio play he had recently starred in because he was "too controversial".[citation needed] At the height of the Hollywood blacklist, Lee managed to find work in 1950 as the star of a British film Cry, The Beloved Country, for which both he and Sidney Poitier were smuggled into South Africa as indentured servants in order to play their roles as African ministers.
ManhattanNew York CityCarl LeeWelterweightOrthodoxnewspaper decisionsAfrican AmericansjockeyFederal Theatre Project1936 production of MacbethOrson WellesNative Soncivil rightsblacklistedHouse Un-American Activities CommitteePaul RobesonSan Juan Hill neighborhood of ManhattanHarlemJ. Rosamond JohnsonMusic School Settlement for Colored PeopleAeolian HallSaratoga Springs, New YorkThe New York TimesMadison Square Gardendetached his retinaEd SullivanLafayette TheatreBroadway theatreShow BoatFrank H. WilsonCivil Works AdministrationRex IngramMacbethBanquoTexas Centennial ExpositionDallasBigger ThomasMercury TheatreHenri ChristopheMamba's DaughtersDuBose HeywardTheodore WardBig White FogLangston HughesRichard WrightAlain LockeBrooks AtkinsonCatholic Diocese of BrooklynLegion of DecencyWorld War IIWilliam SaroyanLee StrasbergAlfred HitchcockLifeboatWalter SlezakJohn HodiakTallulah BankheadHenry HullWilliam BendixHeather AngelMary AndersonHume CronynHollywood ReporterBaltimore Afro-AmericanSaharaBataanCalibanMargaret WebsterThe TempestShakespeareOthelloMaxine WoodMargo JonesEleanor RooseveltJohn WebsterThe Duchess of MalfiRobert RossenBody and SoulDorothy HeywardDenmark VeseyLost BoundariesWilliam Lindsay Whitepassed for whiteNew EnglandCry, the Beloved CountryapartheidH. Jack GeigerBilly StrayhornAdam Clayton PowellColumbia PointDorchester, MassachusettsPhysicians for Social ResponsibilityPhysicians for Human RightsMississippiSouth AfricaVarietyAmerican TobaccoWalter WinchellHollywood blacklistSidney Poitierindentured servantsheart attackCaresse Crosbymiscegenation lawsWoodlawn Cemeteryuremiakidney diseaseThe BronxEugene O'NeillLionel MonagasEvelyn EllisFederal Emergency Relief AdministrationCivic Repertory TheatreAdelphi TheatreAmphitheaterDallas, TexasMajestic TheatreBiltmore TheatreEmpire TheatreNative SonSt. James TheatreBelasco TheatreCort TheatreAnna LucastaMansfield TheatreAlvin Theatre