From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Clarence Muse October 14 1889 October 13 1979 was an American actor screenwriter director composer and lawyer He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973 Muse was the first Negro to star in a film He acted for more than sixty years appearing in more than 150 movies Born in Baltimore Maryland the son of Alexander and Mary Muse he studied at Dickinson College Carlisle Pennsylvania and received an international law degree in 1911 He was acting in New York by the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance with two Harlem theatres Lincoln Players and Lafayette Players Muse moved to Chicago for a while and then moved to Hollywood and performed in Hearts in Dixie 1929 the first allblack movie For the next fifty years he worked regularly in minor and major roles While with the Lafayette Players Muse worked under the management of producer Robert Levy on productions that helped black actors to gain prominence and respect In regards to the Lafayette Theatres staging of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Muse said the play was relevant to black actors and audiences because in a way it was every black mans story Black men too have been split creatures inhabiting one body Muse appeared as an opera singer minstrel show performer vaudeville and Broadway actor he also wrote songs plays and sketches In 1943 he became the first African American Broadway director with Run Little Chillun Muse was also the cowriter of several notable songs In 1931 with Leon René and Otis René Muse wrote When Its Sleepy Time Down South also known as Sleepy Time Down South The song was sung by Nina Mae McKinney in the movie Safe in Hell 1931 and later became a signature song of Louis Armstrong He was the major star in Broken Earth 1936 which related the story of a black sharecropper whose son miraculously recovers from fever through the fathers fervent prayer Shot on a farm in the South with nonprofessional actors except for Muse the films early scenes focused in a highly realistic manner on the incredible hardship of black farmers with plowing scenes In 1938 Muse costarred with boxer Joe Louis in Spirit of Youth the fictional story of a champion boxer which featured an all black cast Muse and Langston Hughes wrote the script for Way Down South 1939 Muse performed in Broken Strings 1940 as a concert violinist who opposes the desire of his son to play swing From 195556 Muse was a regular on the weekly TV version of Casablanca playing Sam the pianist a part he was under consideration for in the original Warner Brothers film and in 1959 he played Peter the Honey Man in Porgy and Bess He appeared on Disneys TV miniseries The Swamp Fox Other film credits include Buck and the Preacher 1972 The Worlds Greatest Athlete 1973 and as Gazengas Assistant Snapper in Car Wash 1976 His last acting role was in The Black Stallion 1979
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