Ernest Anderson. The first black lawyer in a white film.
I recently saw T he Well (1951) . A little black girl is missing after being seen talking to a white man who is a stranger in town. The film deals with the racial tensions which build up due to misinformation. (Always a dangerous situation). The child's father is played by Ernest Anderson. At the start of his career Anderson played the usual porter parts but in 1942 received a National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his role as a law student innocent of a hit and run incident which leaves a white woman injured and her child died. The film was called In this Our Life (1942). Anderson wanted to play a qualified paralegal but the film company thought that would not be accepted by a white audience, so with the formidable support of the film's leading lady Bette Davis the director agreed he could be a student working in a lawyer's office, studying part time for the bar. I think Anderson was very handsome. My mother used to say a...