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IMDbPro

Noble Johnson(1881-1978)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Producer
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Noble Johnson in The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1922)
In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp. Ashore in New Bedford, he meets and falls for Faith Mapple, daughter of the local minister and beloved of Ahab's brother Derek. Faith herself quickly returns Ahab's love, as Derek is drab and ignoble. On his next voyage, however, Ahab loses a leg to the monstrous white whale Moby-Dick. When upon his return to New Bedford he mistakenly believes Faith wants nothing to do with him because of his disfigurement, Ahab returns to sea with only one goal in mind -- to find and kill the great white whale.
Play trailer1:08
Moby Dick (1930)
1 Video
48 Photos
African-American movie actor and producer Noble Johnson was born on April 18, 1881, in Marshall, Missouri. His family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, when Noble was very young, and it was there that he met Lon Chaney at school. They became friends as children, and later got re-acquainted when both were making movies in Hollywood and became friends all over again (surprisingly, they never made any movies together).

Johnson was built like a bull, standing 6'2" at 215 pounds. His impressive physique and handsome features made him in demand as a character actor and bit player. In the silent era he essayed a wide variety of characters of different races in a plethora of films, primarily serials, westerns and adventure movies. While Johnson was cast as blacks in many films, he also played Native American and Latino parts and "exotic" characters such as Arabians or even a devil in hell in Dante's Inferno (1924) (the old black and white orthochromatic film stock of the early days was less discriminating about a person's color, as were B+W stocks in general, permitting some African-American actors a break, as their "color" was washed out or less obvious when photographed in B+W. As late as the early 1960s, there were very few African-American members of the Screen Actors Guild, since there was a lack of opportunity for them as black performers were confined mostly to race films until the 1960s). In all his roles, Johnson lived up to his Christian name: his was a noble and dignified presence that exhibited great power and substance.

Johnson also was an entrepreneur. In 1916 he founded his own studio to produce what would be called "race films", movies made for the African-American audience, which was ignored by the "mainstream" film industry. The Lincoln Motion Picture Co., which was in existence until 1921, was an all-black company, the first to produce movies portraying African-Americans as real people instead of as racist caricatures (Johnson was followed into the race film business by Oscar Micheaux and others). Johnson, who served as president of the company and was its primary asset as a star actor, helped support the studio by acting in other companies' productions such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), and using the money he made in those films to invest in Lincoln.

Lincoln's first picture was The Realization of a Negro's Ambition (1916). For four years Johnson managed to keep Lincoln a going concern, primarily due to his extraordinary commitment to African-American filmmaking. However, he reluctantly resigned as president in 1920, as he no longer could continue his double business life, maintaining a demanding career in Hollywood films while trying to run a studio.

In the 1920s Johnson was a very busy character actor, appearing in such top-notch films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille's original The Ten Commandments (1923) andThe Thief of Bagdad (1924). He made the transition to sound, appearing in the 1930 version of Moby Dick (1930) as Queequeg to John Barrymore's Captain Ahab. He was also the tribal leader on Skull Island in the classic King Kong (1933) (and its sequel, Son of Kong (1933)) and appeared in Frank Capra's classic Lost Horizon (1937) as one of theporters. One of his last films was John Ford's classic She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), in which he played Native American Chief Red Shirt. He retired from the movie industry in 1950.

Johnson died on January 9, 1978, in Yucaipa (San Bernardino), California, at age 96. He is buried in the Garden of Peace at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California.
BornApril 18, 1881
DiedJanuary 9, 1978(96)
BornApril 18, 1881
DiedJanuary 9, 1978(96)
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Photos48

Leslie Banks, Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian, Noble Johnson, Joel McCrea, and Fay Wray in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Leslie Banks, Noble Johnson, and Joel McCrea in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Noble Johnson in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Noble Johnson and Joel McCrea in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames, Sidney Fox, and Noble Johnson in Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Noble Johnson and Victor Varconi in The Plainsman (1936)
John Wayne, Chief John Big Tree, Noble Johnson, and George Sky Eagle in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Noble Johnson in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Noble Johnson in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Noble Johnson and Frank McGrath in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Noble Johnson and George Sky Eagle in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Noble Johnson and George Sky Eagle in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Known for

King Kong (1933)
King Kong
7.9
  • Native Chief
  • 1933
Boris Karloff and Zita Johann in The Mummy (1932)
The Mummy
7.0
  • The Nubian
  • 1932
Leslie Banks, Joel McCrea, and Fay Wray in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
The Most Dangerous Game
7.1
  • Ivan
  • 1932
John Barrymore in Moby Dick (1930)
Moby Dick
5.6
  • Queequeg
  • 1930

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Roy Rogers, Penny Edwards, and Trigger in North of the Great Divide (1950)
    North of the Great Divide
  • Forrest Tucker in Rock Island Trail (1950)
    Rock Island Trail
  • John Wayne, John Agar, Harry Carey Jr., Joanne Dru, and Ben Johnson in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
  • Betty Hutton and Macdonald Carey in Dream Girl (1948)
    Dream Girl
    • (uncredited)
  • Bruce Cabot, Andy Devine, Bill Elliott, and Lorna Gray in The Gallant Legion (1948)
    The Gallant Legion
    • (uncredited)
  • Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard in Unconquered (1947)
    Unconquered
    • (uncredited)
  • Lorna Gray and Monte Hale in Along the Oregon Trail (1947)
    Along the Oregon Trail
    • (uncredited)
  • Yvonne De Carlo, Broderick Crawford, George Brent, and Andy Devine in Slave Girl (1947)
    Slave Girl
    • (uncredited)
  • Gabriel Dell, Teala Loring, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Dan Seymour in Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947)
    Hard Boiled Mahoney
  • Bill Elliott and Vera Ralston in Plainsman and the Lady (1946)
    Plainsman and the Lady
  • Anne Baxter, Claude Rains, and Paul Muni in Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
    Angel on My Shoulder
    • (uncredited)
  • Edgar Barrier, John Loder, and Audrey Long in A Game of Death (1945)
    A Game of Death
  • Irene Manning and Dennis Morgan in The Desert Song (1943)
    The Desert Song
    • (uncredited)
  • Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Jack Carson, Eddie Cantor, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, and Alexis Smith in Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
    Thank Your Lucky Stars
    • (uncredited)
  • Albert Dekker, Preston Foster, and Patricia Morison in Night in New Orleans (1942)
    Night in New Orleans

Writer

  • Bill Patton in Tracks (1922)
    Tracks
    • (as Mark Noble)
  • The Indian's Lament

Producer

  • By Right of Birth (1921)
    By Right of Birth
    • (uncredited)
  • The Realization of a Negro's Ambition (1916)
    The Realization of a Negro's Ambition

Videos1

Official Trailer
Trailer 1:08
Official Trailer

Personal details

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    • April 18, 1881
    • Marshall, Missouri, USA
    • January 9, 1978
    • Yucaipa, California, USA(undisclosed)
    • October 19, 1912 - ?
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    He was born in Marshall, MO, but when very young his family moved to Colorado Springs, CO, birthplace of Lon Chaney. They attended the same school, became friends and knew each other many years later when both were making movies in Hollywood.

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