Moses Gunn (2 October 1929, St. Louis, Missouri – 16 December 1993, Guilford, Connecticut) was an American actor. A formidable Obie award-winning stage player, he co-founded the Negro Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was in Jean Genet's The Blacks. He was nominated for a 1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for The Poison Tree and played Othello on Broadway in 1970.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Mary and George Gunn, he was the eldest of seven children. After his mother died, his family splintered and Moses left home and rode the railroad at just 12 years old. He returned to St. Louis and attended school while living at the home of Jewel Richie, his English and Diction teacher. In 1954, Gunn began a three year stint in the Army. In 1959, he received his B. A. degree from Tennessee State University. After that, he studied at the University of Kansas from 1959 to 1961 in their graduate program for speech and drama; they belatedly awarded him an M. A. degree in 1989. In March 2008 it was announced that the University of Kansas will house his memorabilia.
An authoritative black character actor of film and TV, Gunn also enjoyed a successful career on stage. He made his NY stage debut in the original off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks (1962). Gunn is best remembered for his portrayal of mobster Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Jonas in the first two Shaft movies, and for his brief role of Booker T. Washington in the 1981 movie Ragtime, a performance which won him an NAACP Image Award. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1977 for his role in the TV mini-series Roots. He also costarred with Avery Brooks on the TV series A Man Called Hawk. Gunn also appeared in a multi-episode story arc as atheist shop owner Carl Dixon on the sitcom Good Times, as Joe Kagan on Little House on the Prairie and as the character Moses Gage in the 1980s NBC drama Father Murphy. His last notable role was as murder suspect Risley Tucker in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street ("Three Men and Adena").
Gunn was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He died from the complications of asthma in Guilford, Connecticut in 1993.
Filmography
1964 Nothing But a Man (film debut)
1971 Shaft as Bumpy Jonas
1972 Shaft's Big Score! as Bumpy Jonas
1973 The Iceman Cometh as Joe Mott
1973 Kung Fu ..(1 episode).."The Stone" as Isaac Montola
1972 The Hot Rock as Dr. Amusa
1974 Amazing Grace as Welton J. Waters
1975 Rollerball as Cletus
1977 Roots as Kintango
1980 The Ninth Configuration as Major Nammack
1981 Ragtime as Booker T. Washington
1982 Amityville II: The Possession as Detective Turner
1984 The NeverEnding Story as Cairon
1984 Firestarter as Dr. Herman Pynchot
1986 Heartbreak Ridge as Sergeant Webster
1989 The Women of Brewster Place
1991 Brother Future
1991 Perfect Harmony as Zeke
References
^ "Actor's Memorabilia Donated to KU Department of Theatre and Film", Kansas City infoZine News (2008-03-04). Retrieved on 2008-07-28.
1990 Tales from the Crypt
External links
Moses Gunn at the Internet Movie Database
This article about a United States film and TV actor or actress born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Gunn"
Categories: 1929 births | 1993 deaths | African American actors | American film actors | American screen actor, 1920s birth stubs | American television actors | People from St. Louis, Missouri
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This page was last modified on 28 July 2008, at 14:40.
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