Cast & creator
Mantan Moreland
Best known for Adam-12, Love, American Style, Julia
Born just after the turn of the century in Louisiana, Mantan began running away from home at age 12 to join circuses and medicine shows, only to be brought back time and again. During these times he sharpened his comic skills and developed routines and acts that eventually became popular on the vaudeville stage, or what was then called the "chitlin' circuit." A solo performer by nature, he often teamed up with other famous comics (such as Ben Carter) to keep working, and became a deft performer of "indefinite talk" routines, where two quicksilver comics continually topped each other in mid-sentence, as if reading each other's mind (i.e., "Say, did you see...?" "Saw him just yesterday...didn't look so good"). Mantan's focus gradually shifted his trade toward film, where he initially appeared in servile bits (shoeshine men, porters, waiters). However, his talent for making people laugh couldn't be overlooked and he soon earned featured status in Harlem-styled western parodies and grade "A" comedy films playing the superstitious, ever-terrified manservant running from any kind of impending doom. Moreland's peak in movies came with his recurring role as Birmingham, the skittish chauffeur, in the "Charlie Chan" series, where he was forever forewarning his boss to stay away from an obviously dangerous case or situation. Though haunted mansions were an ideal place for setting off his stereotyped character, Mantan would be haunted in a different way by this Hollywood success in years to follow. By the 1950s, racial attitudes began to change and, with the rise of the civil rights movement, what was once considered hilarious was now interpreted as demeaning and offensive to both blacks and whites. Mantan and others, such as Stepin Fetchit, were ostracized and ridiculed by Hollywood for their past negative portrayals. It took decades for audiences to forgive and newer generations to forget the Depression-era comedy of Mantan Moreland in order for the actor to come back. In the late 1960s he managed a modest resurgence on TV and in commercials and occasional films, allowing him to work again with such comic heavyweights as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and director Carl Reiner. It was all too brief, however, for Mantan, long suffering from ill health, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973, just as he was settling in to his renewed popularity. Today, audiences tend to be kinder and more understanding of Moreland, remembering him as a highly talented comic who, in the only way he knew, broke major barriers and opened the doors for others black actors to follow.
Also known as: Man Tan Moreland, Manton Moreland, Manten Moreland, Carter & Moreland, Moreland
110
film credits
4
television credits
114
1933–1973 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (114)
Showing 114 of 114 credits
Adam-12
Philip Richards
1968
Love, American Style
Stranger
1969
Julia
Harry James
1968
The Bill Cosby Show
Uncle Dewey
1969
A-Haunting We Will Go
Porter (uncredited)
1942A-Haunting We Will Go
1942
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited)
1942
Swing Fever
Woody
1943Swing Fever
Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited)
1943
The Patsy
Barber Shop Porter
1964
Spider Baby
Messenger
1967
Eyes in the Night
Alistair
1942
Millionaire Playboy
Bellhop
1940
King of the Zombies
Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
1941
Cabin in the Sky
First Idea Man
1943
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
Horatio B.Fitz Washington
1942
Black Magic
Birmingham Brown
1944
Docks of New Orleans
Birmingham Brown
1948
Revenge of the Zombies
Jefferson 'Jeff' Johnson
1943
It Started with Eve
Railway Porter (uncredited)
1941
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
Roy
1941
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Robbins
1940
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
Birmingham Brown
1944
Hit the Ice
Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited)
1943
Next Time I Marry
Tilby
1938
Pin Up Girl
Train Station Porter (uncredited)
1944
Sign of the Wolf
Ben
1941
Girl Trouble
Flint's Chauffeur
1942
Andy Hardy's Double Life
Prentiss - The Benedict Butler (uncredited)
1942
Birth of the Blues
Black Trumpet Player (uncredited)
1941
See Here, Private Hargrove
Train Porter (uncredited)
1944
Watermelon Man
Joe the Counterman
1970
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Porter (uncredited)
1945
The Trap
Birmingham Brown
1946
The Comic
Passerby at Billy's Funeral (unbilled)
1969
Up in the Air
Jeff Jefferson
1940
Four Jacks and a Jill
Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited)
1942
Riders of the Frontier
Chappie, the Cook
1939
Law of the Jungle
Jefferson "Jeff" Jones
1942
Dressed to Kill
Rusty
1941
Chip Off the Old Block
Porter
1944
The Shanghai Chest
Birmingham Brown
1948
This Is the Life
Porter (uncredited)
1944
The Young Nurses
Old Man
1973
The Golden Eye
Birmingham Brown
1948
The Gang's All Here
Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith
1941
Slightly Dangerous
Waiter at Swade's (uncredited)
1943
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
Eustace Smith
1943
We've Never Been Licked
Willie
1943
He Hired the Boss
Bootblack
1943
Sarong Girl
Maxwell
1943
The Shanghai Cobra
Birmingham Brown
1945
Let's Go Collegiate
Jeff
1941
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
1944
Moon Over Las Vegas
Porter
1944
Sleepers West
Porter (uncredited)
1941Marry the Boss's Daughter
Diner Cook
1941
The Green Pastures
Angel Removing Hat (uncredited)
1936
Enter Laughing
Subway Rider
1967
You're Out of Luck
Jeff Jefferson
1941
Tell No Tales
Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited)
1939
The Feathered Serpent
Birmingham Brown
1948
Up Jumped the Devil
Washington
1941
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
Lightnin'
1942
Mr. Washington Goes to Town
Schenectady Washington
1942
Girl in 313
Porter
1940
Viva Cisco Kid
Memphis - The Cook
1940
Drums of the Desert
Sergeant 'Blue' Williams
1940
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
Porter
1943
Maryland
1940
The Scarlet Clue
Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
1945
South of Dixie
The Porter
1944
Captain Tugboat Annie
Pinto
1945
The Dreamer
1948
Dark Alibi
Birmingham Brown
1946
The Chinese Ring
Birmingham Brown
1947
Footlight Serenade
Amos
1942
She's Too Mean for Me
1948
City of Chance
Anxious Man
1940
Two-Gun Man from Harlem
Bill Blake
1938
What a Guy
1948
Ebony Parade
Mantan
Phantom Killer
Nicodemus
1942
On the Spot
Jefferson White
1940
That's the Spirit
Night Watchman
1933
Bowery to Broadway
Alabam
1944
Riverboat Rhythm
Mantan
1946
Shadows Over Chinatown
Birmingham Brown
1946
Chasing Trouble
Thomas H. Jefferson
1940
The Jade Mask
Birmingham Brown
1945
Sky Dragon
Birmingham Brown
1949
Irish Luck
Jefferson
1939
Cracked Nuts
Burgess
1941
Harlem on the Prairie
Mistletoe
1937
Star Dust
Waiter on Train
1940
Melody Parade
Skidmore
1943
Tall, Tan and Terrific
Mantan Moreland
1946
Four Shall Die
Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur
1940
Spirit of Youth
Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons
1938
Rockin' the Blues
Self
1956
Freckles Comes Home
Jeff the porter
1942Treat 'Em Rough
'Snake-Eyes'
1942
The Spider
Harry
1945
Frontier Scout
Norris Family Butler
1938
While Thousands Cheer
Nash
1940
Lucky Ghost
Washington
1942
Return of Mandy's Husband
Mantan
1947
Come On, Cowboy!
Mantan
1949Gang Smashers
Gloomy
1938
Laughing at Danger
Jefferson
1940
Mantan Messes Up
Mantan
1946
Mantan Runs for Mayor
1946
One Dark Night
Samson Brown
1939
Professor Creeps
Washington
1942