Cinema: The New Pictures: Jun. 29, 1936

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Not to be confused with famed Director Rex Ingram (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), who is now retired from the cinema at his villa in Nice, Negro Actor Rex Ingram is the son of a 6-ft., 4-in. fireman on the Mississippi River boat Robert E. Lee. He was born, while his mother was hurrying home to Cairo. Ill., somewhere in the vicinity of Illinois, Missouri or Kentucky, christened Reginald Cliff Ingram. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 7. Young Reginald Ingram was graduated from Urban military school, set off to work his way through Northwestern University. As to his career there, reports differ. Warner Brothers publicists insist that he was an "N" man at baseball, football, basketball and track, graduated with honors in 1919. Northwestern records show that he never went there at all. According to Warner's accounts, Actor Ingram possesses both a Phi Beta Kappa key and the degree of M.D. Since opportunities for Negro actors are limited and he can never hope for another as good as "de Lawd," he is quoted as saying he may now retire from public life, return to medicine, devote himself to good works among poor Negroes in the South. Actor Ingram currently admits that he is neither a Phi Beta Kappa nor a doctor of medicine, explains all such biographical discrepancies as misunderstandings which arose before he was sufficiently famed to make them worth correcting.

The more equivocal portions of the current "Lawd's" career ended when his career as a professional actor began in 1920. After receiving $10 for his performance as the cannibal chief, he played bit parts in pictures and in road companies of plays, made a reputation as Blacksnake in Stevedore. Most of Actor Ingram's early jobs were given him because of his impressive physique. In the cinema version of The Green Pastures, he was originally cast for the role of Adam, which amounts to two "sides" and a shot of Adam naked to the waist. While trying applicants for the role of God, Collaborator Connelly finally thought of Ingram, tested him in a beard, promptly decided he had enough poise for the part. Actor Ingram speaks with more vigor but no less dignity than his predecessor, doubles ably as Adam and the Prophet Hezdrel.

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