Noble Johnson, circa 1915

Item Overview

Title

Noble Johnson, circa 1915

Alternative title

Motion Picture Actors (male)

Date Created

[circa 1915

Date

1915

Collection

Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Notes

Description

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.

Caption

Written on back of photo: Noble M. Johnson, Motion Picture Actor

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Keywords

Genre

Portrait photographs

Names

Johnson, Noble, 1881-1978

Resource type

still image

Subjects

African American actors
African American businesspeople
Motion picture producers and directors