William Marshall

William Marshall was an American actor director and opera singer He is best known for his title role in Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream as well as his role on Peewees Playhouse Marshall made his Broadway debut in 1944 in Carmen Jones In 1950 he understudied Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in the Broadway production of Peter Pan He played the leading role of De Lawd in the 1951 revival of The Green Pastures a role he repeated in 1958 in a BBC telecast of the play He performed in several Shakespearean plays on the stage in the U S and Europe including the title role in at least six productions of Othello Harold Hobson of the London Sunday Times praised Marshalls portrayal as the best Othello of our time In 1968 Marshall joined the Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles to play Othello in a jazz musical version Catch My Soul with Jerry Lee Lewis as Iago Marshall portrayed Paul Robeson and Frederick Douglass on stage He researched Douglass life extensively and in 1983 produced and played the lead role in Frederick Douglass Slave and Statesman Marshalls career on screen began in the 1952 film Lydia Bailey as a Haitian leader He followed that with a prominent role as Glycon comrade and fellow gladiator to Victor Mature in the 1954 film Demetrius and the Gladiators His demeanor voice and stature gave him a wide range though he was illsuited for the subservient roles that many black actors of his generation were most frequently offered He was a leader of the MauMau uprising in Something of Value and Attorney General Edward Brooke in The Boston Strangler He probably received the most notice for his role in the vampire film Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream In later years Marshall played the King of Cartoons on Peewees Playhouse Despite blacklisting because of his supposed communist connections Marshall managed to continue appearing in both television and films He appeared on the British spy series Danger Man in episodes titled Deadline and The Galloping Major He also won two local Emmys for producing and performing in a PBS production As Adam Early in the Morning a theatre piece originally performed on stage He also was featured in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled The Jar with actors Pat Buttram and George Lindsey In addition to acting and producing Marshall taught acting at various universities including the University of California Irvine and the Mufandi Institute an AfricanAmerican arts and music institution in the Watts section of Los Angeles He did similar work at Chicagos ETA Creative Arts Foundation which in 1992 named Marshall one of its Epic Men of the 20th century Marshall died June 11 2003 from complications arising from Alzheimers disease and diabetes Marshall was considered by many to be a much underrated actor and one who never got his due Some have remarked that Marshall should have had a much more successful and larger screen career even saying that Marshall would have been a perfect choice for the role of Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian