Charles S Gilpin

Charles Sidney Gilpin was born in Richmond, Virginia (1878 - 1930), he quit school when he was 12 years old and later began to travel with the Williams and Walker Vaudeville Company. He was a part of the Canadian Jubilee singers and was one of the original members of the Pekin Stock Company in Chicago. In 1914 he appeared in the leading role in The Girl at the Fort , with the Anita Bush Company. He stayed on with the company and helped organize the Lafayette Players, the first stock company in Harlem.

Gilpin had few opportunities to demonstrate the true scope of his talents to a wide audience. He worked as an elevator operator in Macy's department store to earn his living. In 1920 he was solicited for the leading role in Eugene O'Neill's play, 'The Emperor Jones,' at the Provincetown Theatre in Greenwich Village. He offered a powerful performance in what was to be the first dramatic production in an all-white theater to star an African-American actor. This play launched Gilpin's career. The New Republic ranked him with the greatest artists of the American stage for his performance. He was received at the White House and was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal for his notable performance in O'Neill's play. In 1921 the play won the Pulitzer Prize.

Because Gilpin began to alter lines in The Emperor Jones, and his drinking sometimes showed in his performances, O'Neill decided to use Paul Robeson, another fine African-American actor, in the London run of The Emperor Jones. Gilpin went on to appear in several other plays and contributed money to the famous Karamu Playhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The Karamu Players changed their name to the Gilpin Players. In 1926, he starred in the film version of Ten Nights in the Barroom, produced in Philadelphia by the Colored Players Film Corporation. Gilpin's career ended when he lost his voice.

He died at the age of 52.

Source: It Wasn’t All Velvet: The Life and Hard Times of Charles S. Gilpin, Actor, by John T. Kneebone