Ernest Anderson
Birth : 1915-08-25, Lynn, Massachusetts, USA
Death : 2011-03-05
History
Ernest Anderson was born in Lynn MA and earned his high school diploma in Washington D.C. at Dunbar High School, formerly named The Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. Founded in 1891, it was America's first public high school for black students. He earned his bachelor's degree at Northwestern University's School of Drama and Speech. He moved to Hollywood and was working in the service department when Bette Davis arranged for him to interview for the role of Perry Clay in the film "In This Our Life" (1942). Mr. Anderson persuaded the director, John Huston, to change the racist dialog of his character typical of Hollywood in that era, to one of dignified intelligence and emotion. After serving his country in WWII, he returned to Warner Brothers where he continued to humanize the roles of America's black performers. He remained active in film until the late 1960's. He died in DeLand, Florida, on March 5, 2011.
Uncle Stan
A young cop starts an elaborate con game to ensure that the family of his dead buddy gets a pension.
Homer
Racial tensions threaten to explode when a black man is elected sheriff of a small, racially divided town in the Deep South.
Ernie, Ice Cream Vendor at Beach (uncredited)
A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
Train Porter
Accused of killing a woman on a train, Sharon Carlin runs home to find another corpse there too!
Porter on Twentieth Century Ltd. (uncredited)
Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
Riverboat Cabin Boy
In this biopic, Jim Bowie goes to New Orleans, where he falls for Judalon and befriends her brother, Narcisse. Soon, Jim is forced to avenge Narcisse's murder, but Judalon takes up with another man. Jim eventually has another romantic interlude with Judalon and is forced to kill one of her suitors in self-defense. Jim leaves town, and falls for the daughter of a Texas politician, but his entanglement with Judalon continues to bedevil him.
Fred Johnson
After beginning their train trip to California, a famous film actress and her daughter discover their compartment has also been assigned to a handsome biology professor. Comedy.
Ralph Crawford
In a racially mixed American town, a five-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But is he guilty?
School Teacher (uncredited)
Robbers Ray Biddle and his brother are shot and taken to the local hospital. There, the two are treated by Dr. Brooks, the hospital's only black doctor. The brothers assault Brooks with racist slurs. And, when his brother ends up dying on the operating table, Ray accuses the doctor of murdering him. Blind with rage, Ray works to turn the white community of the city against Brooks, who finds an unlikely ally in the dead man's widow, Edie.
Footman
A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.
Wong - Houseboy (uncredited)
A private detective foils the plans of villains attempting to take over Panamanian oilfields when he hides a valuable map in plain sight.
Alf
Two brothers from the North try to gain favor in the South after they inherit a horse farm in Kentucky.
Dining Car Waiter (uncredited)
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.
Messenger (uncredited)
A down-to-earth pilot charms a European princess on vacation in the United States.
Parry Clay
An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.
Hans
Jan Kruga and his daughter Meta live on a farm in the Transvaal. The nearest neighbor, Sir John Morgan, lives 20 miles away, and it is only on rare intervals that she ever goes even that far away from her isolated home. Toddles, a work elephant on her father's farm, is her only pet and in the first part of our story we see her befriend him from a cruel keeper. Hans, a neighboring Boer farmer calls and asks for Meta's hand in marriage. The girl is ordered by her father to accept Hans' attentions. She has been taught to obey and when Hans gives her a love offering, a huge necklace of beads, she meekly offers her cheek for the betrothal kiss. Sir John's nephew, Hirshal, comes for a visit from England and Sir John brings him for a friendly call on the Krugas. Meta's heart awakens at the sight of the handsome, young Englishman, and she returns Hans's necklace. The father, however, orders her to marry Hans, or never darken his door again.
