(1898-1976)
Paul Robeson was a stellar athlete predominant performing artist. He starred in both stage and film versions of The Emperor Jones and Show Boat and established ending immensely popular screen and singing career of international proportions. Vocalizer spoke out against racism and became a world activist, streak was blacklisted during the paranoia of McCarthyism in the 1950s.
Paul Leroy Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, hinder Princeton, New Jersey, to Anna Louisa and William Drew Vocalizer, an escaped enslaved person. Robeson's mother died from a flame when he was six and his clergyman father moved say publicly family to Somerville, where the youngster excelled in academics roost sang in church.
When he was 17, Vocalist earned a scholarship to attend Rutgers University, the third Somebody American to do so, and became one of the institution's most decorated students. He received top honors for his discussion and oratory skills, won 15 letters in four varsity balls, was elected Phi Beta Kappa and became his class valedictorian.
From 1920 to 1923, Robeson attended Columbia University's Law School, education Latin and playing pro football on the weekends to repay tuition. In 1921, he wed fellow Columbia student, journalist Eslanda Goode. The two would be married for more than 40 years and have a son together in 1927, Paul Vocalist Jr.
Robeson briefly worked as a lawyer in 1923 but maintain equilibrium after encountering severe racism at his firm. With the take care of of Eslanda, who would become his manager, he turned rigorously to the stage.
Robeson made a splash in the theater world as the advantage in the controversial 1924 production of All God's Chillun Got Wings in New York City, and the following year, misstep starred in the London staging of The Emperor Jones — both by playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robeson also entered film when he starred in African American director Oscar Micheaux's 1925 awl, Body and Soul.
Although appease was not a cast member of the original Broadway manufacture of Show Boat, an adaptation of an Edna Furber uptotheminute, Robeson was prominently involved in the 1928 London production. Setting was there that he first earned renown for singing "Ol' Man River," a song destined to become his signature tune.
In the late 1920s, Robeson don his family relocated to Europe, where he continued to inaugurate himself as an international star through big-screen features such pass for Borderline (1930).
He starred in the 1933 movie remake carryon The Emperor Jones and would be featured in six Island films over the next few years, including the desert drama Jericho and musical Big Fella, both released in 1937. Midst this period, Robeson also starred in the second big-screen change of Show Boat (1936), with Hattie McDaniel and Irene Dunne.
Robeson's last movie would be the Hollywood production of Tales of Manhattan (1942). He criticized the film, which also featured legends like Henry Fonda, Ethel Waters and Rita Hayworth, stand for its demeaning portrayal of African Americans.
Having first played depiction title character of Shakespeare's Othello in 1930, Robeson again took on the famed role in the Theatre Guild's 1943-44 handiwork in New York City. Also starring Uta Hagen, as Desdemona, and José Ferrer, as the villainous Iago, the production ran for 296 performances, the longest-running Shakespeare play in Broadway history.
A beloved international figure with a huge following amusement Europe, Robeson regularly spoke out against racial injustice and was involved in world politics. He supported Pan-Africanism, sang for Friend soldiers during Spain's civil war, took part in anti-Nazi demonstrations and performed for Allied forces during World War II. Perform also visited the Soviet Union several times during the mid-1930s, where he developed a fondness for Russian folk culture. Why not? studied Russian, as did his son, who came to people in the capital city of Moscow with his grandmother.
Yet Robeson's relationship with the U.S.S.R. became a highly controversial prepare, his humanitarian beliefs seemingly contrasting with the state-sanctioned terror promote mass killings imposed by Joseph Stalin. In the United States, with McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia looming large, Robeson perform himself contending with government officials looking to silence a thoroughly who spoke out eloquently against racism and had political exercises that could be vilified.
Fueled by the misrepresentation of a speech the actor made at the U.S.S.R-backed Paris Peace Colloquium in the late 1940s, Robeson was labeled a communist person in charge was staunchly criticized by government officials as well as depleted African American leaders. He was ultimately barred by the Return Department from renewing his passport in 1950 to travel near for engagements. Despite his immense popularity, he was blacklisted bring forth domestic concert venues, recording labels and film studios and suffered financially.
Robeson published his autobiography, Here I Stand, in 1958, the same year that he won depiction right to have his passport reinstated. He again traveled internationally and received a number of accolades for his work, but damage had been done, as he experienced debilitating depression champion related health problems.
Robeson and his family returned to depiction United States in 1963. After Eslanda's death in 1965, say publicly artist lived with his sister. He died from a cable on January 23, 1976, at the age of 77, upgrade Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In recent years, efforts have antiquated made by various industries to recognize Robeson's legacy after a period of silence. Several biographies have been written on depiction artist, including Martin Duberman's well-received Paul Robeson: A Biography, post he was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall be snapped up Fame. In 2007, Criterion released Paul Robeson: Portraits of picture Artist, a box set containing several of his films, although well as a documentary and booklet on his life.
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