Inductees, Fe-O

Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Perry)

Actor

May 30, 1902 - November 19, 1985

A vaudevillian comedian who starred in many films in the 1930s under the persona "Stepin Fetchit," often billed as the "Laziest Man in the World." His performances later faced criticism for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Black people, but he was recognized by the BFHFI for his success as the first African American film star.

Films (as actor):

  • The Mysterious Stranger (1925)
  • In Old Kentucky (1927)
  • Hearts in Dixie (1929)
  • Show Boat (1929)
  • Judge Priest (1934)

Gloria Foster

November 15, 1933 - September 29, 2001

Films (as actor):

  • The Cool World (1964)
  • Nothing But a Man (1964)
  • The Angel Levine (1970)
  • Man and Boy (1972)
  • The Matrix (1999)

TV Series (as actor):

  • The Atlanta Child Murders (1985)
  • Law & Order (1992-1997)

Theater (as actor):

  • In White America (1963)
  • Having Our Say (1995)

Dizzy Gillespie

Talented jazz trumpeter and composer noted for his profound contributions to the world of jazz, especially in the bebop and Afro-Cuban jazz styles.

October 21, 1917 - January 6, 1993

Films (as musician):

  • Jivin' in Be-Bop (1946)
  • Jazz in America (1983)
  • El Invierno en Lisboa (1992)

Music:

  • "Salt Peanuts" (1941)
  • "Woody n' You" (1942)
  • "Groovin' High" (1945)
  • "Manteca" (1947)
  • "Tin Tin Deo" (1948)

William Greaves

Documentary director, producer

October 8, 1926 - August 25, 2014

Films (as director):

  • Miracle in Harlem (1948)
  • Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
  • The Fighters (1974)
  • Booker T. Washington: Life and Legacy (1982)
  • That's Black Entertainment! (1990)
  • Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey (2001)

TV Series (as producer):

  • Black Journal (1967-1970)

Geoffrey Holder

Actor, dancer, musician, choreographer

August 1, 1930 - October 5, 2014

Films (as actor):

  • Carib Gold (1957)
  • All Night Long (1962)
  • Live and Let Die (1973)
  • Annie (1982)
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Theater (as actor):

  • House of Flow
  • Timbuktu! (1978)

Robert Hooks

Actor, producer

April 18, 1937 -

Films (as actor)

  • Hurry Sundown (1967)
  • Trouble Man (1972)
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Theater (as actor)

  • The Blacks (1962-1963)
  • Dutchman (1964)
  • Hallelujah, Baby! (1967)
  • Voices of Our People (1981)

TV Series (as actor):

  • N.Y.P.D. (1967-1969)
  • Like It Is (1968)
  • Dynasty (1984)

Lena Horne

Actor, musician, activist

June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010

Films (as actor):

  • The Duke Is Tops (1938) (Re-released as The Bronze Venus in 1944)
  • Stormy Weather (1943)
  • Cabin in the Sky (1943)
  • Duchess of Idaho (1950)
  • The Wiz (1978)

Music:

  • Porgy and Bess (1962)
  • Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (1981)
  • The Men in My Life (1988)

Eugene Jackson

Actor

December 25, 1916 - October 26, 2001

Films (as actor):

  • Little Annie Rooney (1925)
  • Hearts in Dixie (1929)
  • Cleopatra Jones (1973)
  • American Gigolo (1980)

Carmen de Lavallade

Dancer, choreographer, actor

March 6, 1931 -

Films (as actor):

  • Carmen Jones (1954)
  • Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
  • Lone Star (1996)
  • The Hours (2002)

Helen Martin

Actor

July 23, 1909 - March 25, 2000

Films (as actor):

  •  Death Wish (1974)
  • Repo Man (1984)
  • A Raisin in the Sun (1989)
  • Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)

TV Series (as actor):

  • Good Times (1974-1979)
  • 227 (1985-1990)

Theater (as actor):

  • Native Son (1941)
  • The Blacks (1960)
  • Raisin (1973)

Etta Moten

Actor, musician

November 5, 1901 - January 2, 2004

Films (as actor):

  • Flying Down to Rio (1933)
  • Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
  • The Green Pastures (1936)
  • A Day at the Races (1937)

Theater (as actor):

  • Fast and Furious (1931)
  • Zombie (1932)
  • Porgy and Bess (1942-1945)

Denise Nicholas

Actor

July 12, 1944 -

Films (as actor):

  • Blacula (1972)
  • Let's Do It Again (1975)
  • A Piece of the Action (1977)
  • Ghost Dad (1990)

TV Series (as actor):

  • Room 222 (1969-1974)
  • Baby...I'm Back! (1978)
  • In the Heat of the Night (1989-1995)

Floyd Norman

Animator, writer, cartoonist

June 22, 1935 -

Films (as animator)

  • Sleeping Beauty (1959)
  • The Sword in the Stone (1963)
  • The Jungle Book (1967)
  • The Hunckback of Notre Dame (1996)
  • Mulan (1998)
  • Dinosaur (2000)
  • Monsters, Inc (2001)

TV Series (as animator):

  • Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert (1969)
  • Sesame Street (1969-1970, 2020)
  • Soul Train (1971)
  • I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali (1977)

Frederick O'Neal

Actor, director, first African American president of the Actor's Equity Association

August 27, 1905 - August 25, 1992

Theater (as actor):

  • Anna Lucasta (1944)
  • Take a Giant Step (1953)
  • House of Flowers (1955)

Films (as actor):

  • Pinky (1949)
  • No Way Out (1950)
  • Anna Lucasta (1958)
  • Take a Giant Step (1959)
  • Something of Value (1957)

TV Series (as actor):

  • Playwrights '56 (1955-1956)
  • Car 54, Where Are You? (1961-1963)
  • Breaking Point (1964)