Everything about Canada Lee totally explained
Canada Lee, born
Lionel Cornelius Canegata, (
March 3,
1907–
May 9,
1952) was an
American actor who pioneered roles for
African Americans. A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and '40s, he died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the
House Un-American Activities Committee. Coming to acting after careers as a
jockey,
boxer, and musician, Lee furthered the African-American tradition in theater pioneered by such older actors as
Paul Robeson.
Biography
Lee's life evidences his roving ambition, varied skills, and ability to master vastly different disciplines.
Early life
Growing up to West Indian parents in New York City, Lee tried his hand at many things. He was a
concert violinist at the age of twelve. In his early teens, he ran away from home to become a professional
jockey, and after growing too large to ride, he decided to try
boxing. Before one match an announcer, stumbling over Lionel’s surname, accidentally christened him ‘Canada Lee.’ Lee adopted the mistake as his own, and he quickly rose through the ranks for a chance and file, positioning himself for a shot at the
Welterweight title.
A glancing blow to his right eye detached his
retina and ended his career as a boxer. Canada left the ring and began to conduct a fifteen-piece orchestra at a nightclub in Harlem,
The Jitterbug, which he also managed. Neither the band nor the nightclub could survive the
Great Depression; by the mid-30s, Lee was impoverished.
Theater career
Lee's acting career began by accident. While at a
YMCA to apply for a job as a laborer, Lee stumbled upon an audition in progress and was invited to audition. He earned a supporting role in Frank Wilson’s 1934 production of
Brother Moses, which played to a crowd of ten thousand in
Central Park. Lee, who received favorable reviews, settled on acting as a new career.
This career brought him into contact with many of the most famous actors and directors of the late 1930s. Working with the
Federal Theater Project, he appeared in
Stevedore in 1934, with various small roles following. His first major role in a seminal production came in
Orson Welles's so-called "voodoo"
Macbeth (1936) at the
American Negro Theater. Lee played Banquo in this controversial production, which featured a
Haitian motif in the set, African-themed drumming and a black cast of over two hundred actors. The play's treatment of African-Americans proved controversial, and Lee is reported to have rescued Welles from angry protestors on two occasions.
After two more years of work in black theater and Theater Project productions, including the lead role in
The Big White Fog, Lee reunited with Welles for the stage production of
Richard Wright's
Native Son. The 1941 production was a spectacular hit, both for Welles and for Lee, whom the
The New York Times called "the greatest Negro actor of his era and one of the finest actors in the country." Wright also applauded the performance, noting the contrast between Lee's affable personality and his intensity as Bigger Thomas.
During World War II, Lee continued to act in plays and in films. In 1942, he played in two comedies by
William Saroyan; Lee earned approving reviews despite the generally negative response to these plays. In 1943, he took a lead role in a production of the race-themed drama
South Pacific, which was directed by
Lee Strasberg. The following year, he became the first African-American to play Caliban in
Margaret Webster’s
1945 Broadway rendition of
The Tempest. Lee had admired Shakespeare since his turn in
Macbeth; indeed, at the time of his death he was preparing to play
Othello on film. The following year he participated in another milestone;
George Rylands cast him as Bosola in a Broadway staging of
John Webster's
The Duchess of Malfi: this was one of the first occasions on which a black actor portrayed a white character (Lee wore whiteface).
After the war, Lee continued to act. In 1946, he played a principal role in
On Whitman Avenue, a drama about racial prejudice directed by
Margo Jones. Lee produced the play, making him the first African-American producer on Broadway; the play spoke directly to the need for interracial housing following WWII and won the praise of former First-Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote weekly columns encouraging readers to see it.
Two years later, he played the part of an obedient slave in
Let My People Go, a dramatization of the life of
Denmark Vesey.
Film career
Lee made his screen debut in
Keep Punching (1939), a film about boxing. Perhaps his most famous film role was in
Alfred Hitchcock's
Lifeboat (1944), in which he played a sailor. Lee insisted on changing his dialogue, which had been a semi-comical dialect typical of racist films. In 1947, he played a supporting role in
Robert Rossen's
Body and Soul, another boxing picture. In 1949, he took another supporting role in
Lost Boundaries, a drama about
passing. Lee's last film role was in
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951).
Along with his varied and successful stage and screen careers, Lee became the first African-American DJ on a major radio station hosting
The Canada Lee Show, and would continue a successful and lengthy radio career as both actor and narrator. His dedication to the groundbreaking series
New World A-Comin’ (a radio show dedicated to presenting Negro history and culture to mainstream American audiences) remains an emblematic testament to Canada’s desire for social change.
Civil rights activism
As an actor, Lee came into contact with many of the leading progressive figures in the country.
Langston Hughes, for instance, wrote two brief plays for Lee; these were submitted to the Theater Project, but their criticism of racism in America was deemed too controversial, and neither was staged. Lee spoke to schools, sponsored various humanitarian events, and began speaking directly against the existing segregation in America’s Armed Forces, while simultaneously acknowledging the need to win the
Second World War. To this latter end, he appeared at numerous
USO events; he won an award from the United States Recruiting Office and another from the Treasury Department for his help in selling war bonds. These sentiments would carry on throughout his life, culminating in his early firsthand account of apartheid in South Africa.
By the late 1940s, the rising tide of anti-Communism had made many of his earlier contacts politically dangerous. In 1949, the trade journal
Variety stated that under no circumstance was he to be used in American Tobacco’s televised production of a radio play he'd recently starred in because he was “too controversial.”
In the same year, the FBI offered to clear Lee’s name if he'd publicly call Paul Robeson a Communist. Lee refused and responded by saying, “All you’re trying to do is split my race.” According to newspaper columnist
Walter Winchell, Lee stated that he intended to come out and “publicly blast Paul Robeson.” However, the fact that the friendship between the two actors remained until Lee's death suggests that Robeson put no faith in Winchell's claim.
At the height of the
Hollywood blacklist, Lee managed to find work in 1950 as the star of a British film
Cry, The Beloved Country, for which both he and Sidney Poitier were smuggled into
South Africa as
indentured servants in order to play their roles as African ministers. The film’s message of universal brotherhood stands as Lee's final work towards this aim; after it, the blacklist prevented him from getting work. Scheduled to appear in Italy to begin production on a filmed version of Othello, he was repeatedly notified that his passport “remained under review.”
Death
Lee’s chronic
high blood pressure led to
kidney failure, and he died of an excruciating blood poisoning known as
uremia. Following his death, rumors persisted that he did come out and call Robeson a Communist. As he was unable to defend himself, Lee’s name remained sullied and overlooked as history marched forward into the era of
Civil Rights.
There is a reference to Canada Lee by the Canadian rock group
The Tragically Hip in their song "The Dire Wolf," which appears on their album
In Violet Light (2002).
Selected Filmography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Canada Lee'.
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