african American characters that pushed back

JAMES Edwards is one of the first actors to come to mind. No one has mentioned his turn in MANCHURIAN candidate as one of the men on the patrol who reports horrid dreams taking place at a small hotel with a meeting of the Women’s garden club. There is the brilliant presentation of the same Russian and Chinese officials presented in Edwards dream as Black Women having a meeting. It was a revelation to me. Of course in his dream the women would be Black but it never before occurred to me. They spoke like Black working women, not Harvard graduates or comic aunt jemimas.

Edwards has another nice bit at the very beginning when LAWRENCE Harvey busts into the bordello to cut short their night of relaxation. It is Edwards who leads the complaints, directed forcefully at Harvey. Edwards is a corporal so he had more authority than the other men, unusual in films before the mid 50’s.

Finally, when Frank Sinatra gets the attention of his superiors, the psychiatrist who advises the committee on brain washing, is played by Joe Adams, an LA DJ , actor and manager of Ray Charles. A Tuskegee airman, he was charming and erudite, with Broadway and film credits. He was considered the hottest radio personality in Southern California. Here not only did he handle the psychological dialogue smoothly, he had a very interesting on screen relationship with Sinatra, taunting him a bit, well informed and supportive without in any way being subservient. Sinatra’s performance was completely relaxed as though they were friends, which they probably were in real life.