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His imposing 6’2″ frame and comparatively light-coloured skin meant that he appeared as innumerable tribal characters, servants, Russians, Indians, Mexicans, Polynesians, monsters, Arab Princes, Native Americans and the Devil himself! Over the course of approximately 50 films for Universal, he appeared as a negro in only around 3 of them. Noble Johnson became the first major black actor, and though achieving fame, inevitably found himself often cruelly typecast. Noble Johnson left school at 15 and travelled with his father riding horses until 1898 when he became a cowboy and had a succession of jobs in ranching, horse training, and later in mining in 1909, as well as finding time to be a boxer and an athlete. A 1967 interview with George revealed that he and Virgil both attended school with Chaney and he was known by all the family members during the period they lived in Colorado Springs. One of three brothers (he, Virgil and George, as well as a sister, Iris), the Johnsons were a well-known black family in the city and their father was an expert horse-trainer. He was one of the first black actors in Hollywood to achieve any meaningful level of fame and successfully navigated the transition from silent movies to talkies.īorn in Marshall, Missouri 18th April 1881, Noble was a boyhood friend of Lon Chaney Sr and both became well-known for their ability to immerse themselves into roles, playing a wide variety of characters, often ‘bit-parts’ who still made a big impression. Noble Johnson (Ap– January 9, 1978) was an African-American actor and film producer.