Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Encyclopedia
Madame Sul-Te-Wan was an American
actress. The daughter of freed slaves
, she began her career in entertainment touring the east coast
with various theatrical companies
and moved to California
to become a member of the fledgling film community. She became known as a character actress
, appeared in high profile films such as Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance
(1916), and easily navigated the transition to the "talkies"
.
In an age when film roles for African Americans were limited, Madame was consistently employed in the industry as stereotypical slaves, mammies
, and native witch women
. She appeared in King Kong
(1933) as the native handmaiden and was critically praised for her performance as Tituba
in Maid of Salem
(1937). Her appearance in Carmen Jones
(1954) excited the rumor she was star Dorothy Dandridge
's grandmother. Her last role was the charm vendor in The Buccaneer
(1958).
Madame Sul-Te-Wan was married twice and the mother of three sons. She died of a stroke in February 1959 and was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
in North Hollywood. Her career spanned over five decades, and, in 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
. Sul-Te-Wan was the first African American actor, male or female, to sign a film contract
and be a featured performer.
, USA, her parents were freed slaves. Her father, Silas Crawford, left the family early in Sul-Te-Wan's life and her mother, Cleo De Londa, became a laundress who found employment working for Louisville stage actresses. The young Nellie became enchanted by watching the young actresses rehearse when she delivered laundry for her mother. Nellie moved to Cincinnati, Ohio
, and joined a theatrical company called Three Black Cloaks, and began billing herself as Creole
Nell. She also formed her own theatrical companies and toured the East Coast. After moving to California
, Madame Sul-Te-Wan began her acting career in uncredited roles in director
D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 drama Birth of a Nation and the colossal 1916 epic Intolerance. Sul-Te-Wan had allegedly written Griffith a letter of introduction after hearing that Griffith was shooting a film in her hometown in Kentucky
.
Sul-Te-Wan married Robert Reed Conley during the early 1900s and had three sons. Conley, however, abandoned the family soon after the birth of their third son. Her sons, Odel Conley and Onest Conley
, would become actors and appear in several films during their careers, occasionally in films featuring their mother.
penned drama The Children Pay
with the young actress Lillian Gish
and in 1917 with Gish's sister Dorothy
in the Edward Morrissey-directed drama Stage Struck.
Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Madame Sul-Te-Wan would establish herself as a rather publicly recognizable character actress, most often appearing in "Mammy" roles alongside such popular actors of the silent film
era as: Tom Mix
, Leatrice Joy
, Matt Moore, Mildred Harris
, Harry Carey
, Robert Harron
and Mae Marsh
. Some of her most memorable roles of the era were in the 1927 James W. Horne
-directed Buster Keaton
comedy College
, and in the 1929 Erich von Stroheim
-directed drama Queen Kelly
, starring Gloria Swanson
.
Madame Sul-Te-Wan transitioned into the talkie era with relative ease and continued to appear in high profile films alongside such prominent film actors as: Conrad Nagel
, Barbara Stanwyck
, Fay Wray
, Richard Barthelmess
, Jane Wyman
, Luise Rainer
, Melvyn Douglas
, Lucille Ball
, Veronica Lake
and Claudette Colbert
. However, as a black woman in the era of segregation
, she was consistently limited to appearing in roles as minor characters who were usually convicts, "native women", or domestic servants, such as her role as a "Native Handmaiden" in the 1933 box-office hit King Kong. Despite the motion picture industry's limitations for African-American performers, Sul-Te-Wan worked consistently throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1937, Sul-Te-Wan was cast in the memorable role of 'Tituba' in the film Maid of Salem, a dramatic retelling of the events surrounding of the Salem Witch Trials
of 1692. The film starred Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray
, Gale Sondergaard
, Pedro de Cordoba
and Louise Dresser
and was rather financially successful and Sul-Te-Wan's performance garnered critical praise.
, Rex Ingram
, Mae Marsh
, Eugene Pallette
and Maude Eburne
.
In 1954, Sul-Te-Wan appeared in the Otto Preminger
directed and nearly entirely African-American cast musical drama Carmen Jones opposite Dorothy Dandridge
, Harry Belafonte
, Diahann Carroll and Pearl Bailey
as Dandridge's grandmother. The film marked a departure for Sul-Te-Wan, who after appearing onscreen for over four decades, was finally able to act in a role that was atypical of her usual "Mammy" roles. The pairing of Dandridge and Sul-Te-Wan in Carmen Jones spawned a still widely believed but erroneous rumor - that Sul-Te-Wan was Dandridge's actual grandmother (some allege that she is Dandridge's great-grandmother). However, there is no merit to the claim and the two women are unrelated.
At age 77, Sul-Te-Wan married for the second time to French
interior designer Antone Ebenthur. The marriage lasted three years. During the 1950s (Sul-Te-Wan now in her 80s), she continued to appear onscreen in a number of well-received films, albeit now mostly in smaller bit parts and often uncredited. Her last screen appearance came in the 1958 Anthony Quinn
-directed adventure film The Buccaneer, starring Yul Brynner
and Charlton Heston
.
at the age of 85 at the Motion Picture Actors' Home
in Woodland Hills, California
. She was interred at the Pierce Brothers' Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
in North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress. The daughter of freed slaves
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
, she began her career in entertainment touring the east coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
with various theatrical companies
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to become a member of the fledgling film community. She became known as a character actress
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, appeared in high profile films such as Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance
Intolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
(1916), and easily navigated the transition to the "talkies"
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
.
In an age when film roles for African Americans were limited, Madame was consistently employed in the industry as stereotypical slaves, mammies
Mammy archetype
The mammy archetype is perhaps one of the best-known archetypes of African American women. She is often portrayed within a narrative framework or other imagery as a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, very dark skinned, middle aged, and loud...
, and native witch women
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. She appeared in King Kong
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
(1933) as the native handmaiden and was critically praised for her performance as Tituba
Tituba
Tituba was a 17th-century slave belonging to Samuel Parris of Salem, Massachusetts. Tituba was one of the first three people accused of practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials which took place in 1692. Tituba was the first person accused by Betty Parris and Abigail Williams of...
in Maid of Salem
Maid of Salem
Maid of Salem is a 1937 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.-Plot:It tells the story of a young girl in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, who has an affair with adventurer...
(1937). Her appearance in Carmen Jones
Carmen Jones (film)
Carmen Jones is a 1954 American musical film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the libretto for the 1943 stage production of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II, which was inspired by an adaptation of the 1845 Prosper Mérimée novella Carmen by...
(1954) excited the rumor she was star Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
's grandmother. Her last role was the charm vendor in The Buccaneer
The Buccaneer (1958 film)
The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...
(1958).
Madame Sul-Te-Wan was married twice and the mother of three sons. She died of a stroke in February 1959 and was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood, California.The cemetery has a special section called the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation that is the final resting place for a number of aviation pioneers — barnstormers, daredevils and...
in North Hollywood. Her career spanned over five decades, and, in 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. , was founded in 1973, Oakland, California. It supports and promotes black filmmaking, and preserves the contributions by African American artists both before and behind the camera...
. Sul-Te-Wan was the first African American actor, male or female, to sign a film contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
and be a featured performer.
Early life
Born Nellie Crawford in Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, USA, her parents were freed slaves. Her father, Silas Crawford, left the family early in Sul-Te-Wan's life and her mother, Cleo De Londa, became a laundress who found employment working for Louisville stage actresses. The young Nellie became enchanted by watching the young actresses rehearse when she delivered laundry for her mother. Nellie moved to Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, and joined a theatrical company called Three Black Cloaks, and began billing herself as Creole
Creole
- Languages :A Creole language is a stable, full-fledged language that originated from a pidgin or combination of other languages.Creole languages subgroups may include:* Arabic-based creole languages* Dutch-based creole languages...
Nell. She also formed her own theatrical companies and toured the East Coast. After moving to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Madame Sul-Te-Wan began her acting career in uncredited roles in director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 drama Birth of a Nation and the colossal 1916 epic Intolerance. Sul-Te-Wan had allegedly written Griffith a letter of introduction after hearing that Griffith was shooting a film in her hometown in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
Sul-Te-Wan married Robert Reed Conley during the early 1900s and had three sons. Conley, however, abandoned the family soon after the birth of their third son. Her sons, Odel Conley and Onest Conley
Onest Conley
Onest Conley was an American film actor.Born in Evanston, Illinois, his mother was the pioneering African-American film actress Madame Sul-Te-Wan and his father was Robert Reed Conley. He had two brothers...
, would become actors and appear in several films during their careers, occasionally in films featuring their mother.
Early film career
Following her roles for Griffith, Madame Sul-Te-Wan followed up in 1916 with a role in the Anita LoosAnita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
penned drama The Children Pay
The Children Pay
The Children Pay is a 1916 drama film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and starring Lillian Gish.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Millicent* Violet Wilkey - Jean, her sister* Keith Armour - Horace Craig* Ralph Lewis - Theodore Ainsley, the girls' father...
with the young actress Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
and in 1917 with Gish's sister Dorothy
Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American actress, and the younger sister of actress Lillian Gish.-Early life:...
in the Edward Morrissey-directed drama Stage Struck.
Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Madame Sul-Te-Wan would establish herself as a rather publicly recognizable character actress, most often appearing in "Mammy" roles alongside such popular actors of the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era as: Tom Mix
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
, Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy was an American actress most prolific during the early silent film era.-Early life and career:...
, Matt Moore, Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris was an American film actress. Harris began her career in the film industry as a popular child actress at age eleven. At the age of fifteen, she was cast as a harem girl in D. W. Griffith's Intolerance . She appeared as a leading lady through the 1920s but her career slowed with...
, Harry Carey
Harry Carey
Harry Carey was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars. He was the father of Harry Carey Jr., who was also a prominent actor.-Early life and career:...
, Robert Harron
Robert Harron
Robert "Bobby" Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in scores of films, he is possibly best remembered for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed films Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation...
and Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
. Some of her most memorable roles of the era were in the 1927 James W. Horne
James W. Horne
James Wesley Horne was an early American actor, screenwriter and film director. He began his career as an actor under director Sidney Olcott at Kalem Studios in 1913 and directed his first film for the company two years later....
-directed Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
comedy College
College (1927 film)
College is a 1927 comedy-drama silent film directed by James W. Horne and Buster Keaton, and starring Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, and Harold Goodwin.-Plot:...
, and in the 1929 Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
-directed drama Queen Kelly
Queen Kelly
Queen Kelly is the title of an American silent film produced in 1928-29 and released in 1929, originally by United Artists. The film was directed by Erich von Stroheim, starred Gloria Swanson in the title role, and also starred Walter Byron and Seena Owen. It was produced by Joseph P...
, starring Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
.
Madame Sul-Te-Wan transitioned into the talkie era with relative ease and continued to appear in high profile films alongside such prominent film actors as: Conrad Nagel
Conrad Nagel
Conrad Nagel was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.-Biography:...
, Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, Richard Barthelmess
Richard Barthelmess
Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...
, Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
, Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer is a former German film actress. Known as The "Viennese Teardrop", she was the first woman to win two Academy Awards, and the first person to win them consecutively. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts while acting on stage in Austria and Germany and after appearing in Austrian...
, Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
and Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
. However, as a black woman in the era of segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
, she was consistently limited to appearing in roles as minor characters who were usually convicts, "native women", or domestic servants, such as her role as a "Native Handmaiden" in the 1933 box-office hit King Kong. Despite the motion picture industry's limitations for African-American performers, Sul-Te-Wan worked consistently throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1937, Sul-Te-Wan was cast in the memorable role of 'Tituba' in the film Maid of Salem, a dramatic retelling of the events surrounding of the Salem Witch Trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
of 1692. The film starred Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, Gale Sondergaard
Gale Sondergaard
Gale Sondergaard was an American actress.Sondergaard began her acting career in theatre, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse...
, Pedro de Cordoba
Pedro de Cordoba
Pedro de Cordoba , was an American actor.Pedro de Cordoba, who appeared in his first film, a 1915 version of Carmen, was actually a classically trained theatre actor who confessed he did not enjoy appearing in silent films nearly as much as he liked working on stage...
and Louise Dresser
Louise Dresser
Louise Dresser was an American actress.Born Louise Josephine Kerlin in Evansville, Indiana. Her father was a train conductor who died when she was fifteen years old...
and was rather financially successful and Sul-Te-Wan's performance garnered critical praise.
Later career
On September 12, 1953, a banquet was held at the Hollywood Playground Auditorium to honor Madame Sul-Te-Wan by motion picture actors and film personalities. Amongst the 200 guests who attended the event were Louise BeaversLouise Beavers
Louise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...
, Rex Ingram
Rex Ingram (actor)
Rex Ingram was an American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life and career:Born near Cairo, Illinois on the Mississippi River, Ingram's father was a steamer fireman on the riverboat Robert E. Lee...
, Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
, Eugene Pallette
Eugene Pallette
Eugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946....
and Maude Eburne
Maude Eburne
right|thumbMaude Eburne was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles.Born in Bronte-on-the-Lake, Ontario and studied elocution in Toronto...
.
In 1954, Sul-Te-Wan appeared in the Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
directed and nearly entirely African-American cast musical drama Carmen Jones opposite Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Diahann Carroll and Pearl Bailey
Pearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...
as Dandridge's grandmother. The film marked a departure for Sul-Te-Wan, who after appearing onscreen for over four decades, was finally able to act in a role that was atypical of her usual "Mammy" roles. The pairing of Dandridge and Sul-Te-Wan in Carmen Jones spawned a still widely believed but erroneous rumor - that Sul-Te-Wan was Dandridge's actual grandmother (some allege that she is Dandridge's great-grandmother). However, there is no merit to the claim and the two women are unrelated.
At age 77, Sul-Te-Wan married for the second time to French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
interior designer Antone Ebenthur. The marriage lasted three years. During the 1950s (Sul-Te-Wan now in her 80s), she continued to appear onscreen in a number of well-received films, albeit now mostly in smaller bit parts and often uncredited. Her last screen appearance came in the 1958 Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
-directed adventure film The Buccaneer, starring Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
and Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
.
Death
Madame Sul-Te-Wan died after suffering a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
at the age of 85 at the Motion Picture Actors' Home
Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
The Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital is a retirement community, with individual cottages, and a fully licensed, acute-care hospital, located at 23388 Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills, California...
in Woodland Hills, California
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
. She was interred at the Pierce Brothers' Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood, California.The cemetery has a special section called the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation that is the final resting place for a number of aviation pioneers — barnstormers, daredevils and...
in North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California.
Quotes
- "We never did discover the origin of her name. No one was bold enough to ask." - Lillian GishLillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
.
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1915 | The Cause of It All | Mary - the Hotel Cook | |
| The Birth of a Nation The Birth of a Nation The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915... |
Black woman (Dr. Cameron's taunter) | Uncredited | |
| 1916 | Hoodoo Ann Hoodoo Ann Hoodoo Ann is a 1916 Lloyd Ingraham-directed American comedy-drama silent film, written by D.W. Griffith and released by Triangle Film Corporation.-Plot summary:Ann is a young girl who has been living in an orphanage since infancy... |
Black Cindy | Uncredited |
| Intolerance Intolerance (film) Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a... |
Girl at Marriage Market (Babylonian Story) | Uncredited | |
| The Children Pay The Children Pay The Children Pay is a 1916 drama film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and starring Lillian Gish.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Millicent* Violet Wilkey - Jean, her sister* Keith Armour - Horace Craig* Ralph Lewis - Theodore Ainsley, the girls' father... |
Uncredited | ||
| 1917 | Stage Struck | Uncredited | |
| 1918 | Old Wives for New Old Wives for New Old Wives for New is a 1918 drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Prints of the film survive at the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House.-Cast:* Elliott Dexter - Charles Murdock* Florence Vidor - Juliet Raeburn... |
Viola's Maid | Uncredited |
| Who's Your Father? | Black Mother | Uncredited | |
| 1920 | Why Change Your Wife? Why Change Your Wife? -Plot:Frumpy wife Beth devotes herself to bettering her husband's mind and expanding his appreciation for the finer things in life, such as classical music. When he goes shopping at a lingerie store to buy some sexier clothes for her, he meets Sally, the shop girl. Rejected by his wife for a night... |
Sally's Maid | Uncredited |
| 1922 | Manslaughter Manslaughter (1922 film) Manslaughter is a 1922 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Thomas Meighan, Leatrice Joy and Lois Wilson.-Plot summary:... |
Prison Inmate | Uncredited |
| 1924 | The Lightning Rider The Lightning Rider The Lightning Rider is a 1924 Western film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Phlip Morgan* Virginia Brown Faire - Patricia Alvarez* Thomas G. Lingham - Sheriff Alvarez* Frances Ross - Claire Grayson... |
Mammy | |
| 1925 | The Narrow Street | Easter | |
| 1927 | College College (1927 film) College is a 1927 comedy-drama silent film directed by James W. Horne and Buster Keaton, and starring Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, and Harold Goodwin.-Plot:... |
Cook | Uncredited |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin | Slave at Wedding | Uncredited | |
| 1929 | Queen Kelly Queen Kelly Queen Kelly is the title of an American silent film produced in 1928-29 and released in 1929, originally by United Artists. The film was directed by Erich von Stroheim, starred Gloria Swanson in the title role, and also starred Walter Byron and Seena Owen. It was produced by Joseph P... |
Kali Sana - Aunt's Cook | Uncredited |
| 1930 | Sarah and Son Sarah and Son Sarah and Son is a 1930 film which tells the story of a woman who searches for the son that her abusive husband sold to a wealthy family. It stars Ruth Chatterton, Fredric March, Fuller Mellish Jr., Gilbert Emery and Doris Lloyd.... |
Ashmore's Maid | Uncredited |
| The Thoroughbred | Sacharine | Alternative title: Riding to Win | |
| 1931 | The Pagan Lady | Carla the Servant | Uncredited |
| Heaven on Earth | Voodoo Sue | Alternative title: Mississippi | |
| 1933 | Ladies They Talk About Ladies They Talk About Ladies They Talk About is a 1933 Pre-Code women in prison film about a woman sent to San Quentin. Based on the play Women in Prison by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles, the film stars Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, and Lillian Roth.-Plot:... |
Prisoner Mustard | Uncredited Alternative title: Women in Prison |
| King Kong King Kong (1933 film) King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in... |
Native Handmaiden | Uncredited | |
| 1934 | A Modern Hero | Mme. Azais' Neighbor | Uncredited |
| Black Moon | Ruva | ||
| Imitation of Life Imitation of Life (1934 film) Imitation of Life is a 1934 American drama film directed by John M. Stahl. The screenplay by William Hurlbut, based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name, was augmented by eight additional uncredited writers, including Preston Sturges and Finley Peter Dunne... |
Black Cook | Uncredited | |
| 1935 | So Red the Rose | Slave | Uncredited |
| 1937 | In Old Chicago In Old Chicago In Old Chicago is a 1937 American drama film directed by Henry King. The screenplay by Sonya Levien and Lamar Trotti was based on the Niven Busch story, "We the O'Learys." The film is a fictionalized account about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and stars Alice Brady as Mrs. O'Leary, the owner of... |
Hattie | Credited as Madame Sultewan |
| Maid of Salem Maid of Salem Maid of Salem is a 1937 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.-Plot:It tells the story of a young girl in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, who has an affair with adventurer... |
Tituba | ||
| 1938 | Island in the Sky Island in the Sky (1938 film) Island in the Sky is a 1938 drama directed by Herbert I. Leeds, starring Gloria Stuart and Michael Whalen.-Cast:* Gloria Stuart as Julie Hayes* Michael Whalen as Michael Fraser* Paul Kelly as Johnny Doyle* Robert Kellard as Peter Vincent... |
Scrubwoman | Uncredited |
| The Toy Wife | Eve, a Black Servant | Uncredited Alternative title: Frou Frou |
|
| The Affairs of Annabel The Affairs of Annabel The Affairs of Annabel is a 1938 comedy starring Lucille Ball and Jack Oakie. Oakie plays Lannie Morgan, Wonder Pictures publicity man working with film star Annabel Allison , her first starring comedy role.-Plot:... |
Benzedrina, a Convict | Uncredited | |
| Kentucky Kentucky (film) Kentucky is a 1938 Technicolor film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle... |
Lily | ||
| 1939 | Tell No Tales | Jim Alley's mother | Uncredited Alternative title: A Hundred to One |
| Torchy Plays with Dynamite | Ruby - Black Convict Woman | Uncredited | |
| 1940 | Safari Safari (1940 film) Safari is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Madeleine Carroll and Tullio Carminati. An ambitious young woman goes on a safari hunt with a millionaire in the hope of convincing him to marry her, but falls in love with the chief hunter... |
Native Woman | Uncredited |
| Maryland Maryland (film) Maryland is a 1940 film directed by Henry King. It stars Walter Brennan and Fay Bainter.-Cast:*Walter Brennan as William Stewart*Fay Bainter as Charlotte Danfield*Brenda Joyce as Linda*John Payne as Lee Danfield*Charles Ruggles as Dick Piper... |
Naomi | Uncredited | |
| 1941 | King of the Zombies King of the Zombies - Plot :During World War II, a small plane somewhere over the Caribbean runs low on fuel and is blown off course by a storm. Guided by a faint radio signal, they crash-land on an island. The passenger, his manservant and the pilot take refuge in a mansion owned by a doctor... |
Tahama, the Cook and High Priestess | |
| Sullivan's Travels Sullivan's Travels Sullivan's Travels is a 1941 American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are his more valuable contribution to society. The film features... |
Church harmonium payer | Uncredited | |
| 1942 | Mokey | Miss Cully, old black woman | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Revenge of the Zombies Revenge of the Zombies Revenge of the Zombies is a 1943 Horror film directed by Steve Sekely, starring John Carradine and Gale Storm. Dr. Max Heinrich von Altermann , is a mad scientist working to create a race of living dead warriors for the Third Reich.... |
Mammy Beulah, the housekeeper | Alternative title: The Corpse Vanished |
| Thank Your Lucky Stars Thank Your Lucky Stars Thank Your Lucky Stars may refer to:*Thank Your Lucky Stars , a 1943 film*Thank Your Lucky Stars , a British television program*Thank Your Lucky Stars , a 1990 album by the British band Whitehouse.... |
Bit in "Ice Cold Katie" Number | Uncredited | |
| 1949 | Mighty Joe Young | Young family servant | Uncredited Alternative title: Mr. Joseph Young of Africa |
| 1954 | Carmen Jones Carmen Jones (film) Carmen Jones is a 1954 American musical film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the libretto for the 1943 stage production of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II, which was inspired by an adaptation of the 1845 Prosper Mérimée novella Carmen by... |
Hagar - Carmen's Grandmother | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Something of Value Something of Value Something Of Value is a 1957 drama directed by Richard Brooks and starring Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter and Sidney Poitier.-Plot:The movie, based on the book of the same name by Robert Ruark, portrays the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. It shows the colonial and native African conflict caused by colonialism... |
Midwife | Uncredited Alternative title: Africa Ablaze |
| Band of Angels Band of Angels Band of Angels is a 1957 romantic drama film set in the American South before and during the American Civil War, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren. It starred Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, and Sidney Poitier. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh.-Plot:Amantha Starr is the... |
Flower Vendor | Uncredited | |
| 1958 | Tarzan and the Trappers Tarzan and the Trappers Tarzan and the Trappers is an action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Eve Brent, Rickie Sorensen and Lesley Bradley... |
Witch Woman | |
| The Buccaneer The Buccaneer (1958 film) The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose... |
Good Luck Charm Vendor | ||
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1955 | Medic Medic (TV series) Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television's first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures, establishing the style for later medical series.Created by its principal writer James E... |
1 episode | |
Sources
- The Ghost Walks: A Chronological History of Blacks in Show Business 1865-1910 by Henry T. Sampson, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ., 1988)
- Black Women in America An Historical Encyclopedia. Volumes 1 and 2. Edited by Darlene Clark Hine. Copyright 1993, Carlson Publishing Inc., Brooklyn, New York ISBN 0-926019-61-9