Noble Johnson was a character actor in cinema, one of the few African Americans in the field during the studio era. A childhood friend of Lon Chaney, Johnson followed him into the industry in 1915. He was an extra in D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) as a Babylonian soldier. Because of his large size 6'2″, 215 lbs., Johnson was often cast in key character roles representing not just African Americans, but Native Americans, Asians, Arabians, and Pacific Islanders. Johnson founded Lincoln Motion Picture Company, the first American studio that produced “race” films, pictures for African Americans, exclusively, from 1916 to 1923. He continued to work in the sound era, retiring at the age of 69. Studio portrait of Noble M. Johnson. Written on back of photo: Noble M. Johnson, Motion Picture Actor
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b22_f08_007a.tif ark:/21198/z1j409qc
Subject
African American actors African American businesspeople Motion picture producers and directors Johnson, Noble, 1881-1978
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