Noble Johnson was a renowned African-American movie actor and producer born on April 18, 1881, in Marshall, Missouri. He moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, at a young age, where he met Lon Chaney at school. The two became childhood friends and later reconnected in Hollywood, but never collaborated on a film.
Johnson stood at 6'2" and weighed 215 pounds, with an impressive physique and handsome features that made him a sought-after character actor and bit player. During the silent era, he played a wide range of characters, including African-Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos, as well as "exotic" characters like Arabs and even a devil in hell.
As a pioneer in the film industry, Johnson founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Co. in 1916, which produced "race films" for the African-American audience. He served as the company's president and primary star actor, using his earnings from other films to support the studio. Lincoln's first picture was The Realization of a Negro's Ambition (1916),and Johnson managed the company for four years before resigning as president in 1920.
Johnson continued to work as a character actor in the 1920s, appearing in notable films like The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921),The Ten Commandments (1923),and The Thief of Bagdad (1924). He made the transition to sound films in the 1930s, appearing in Moby Dick (1930),King Kong (1933),and Lost Horizon (1937). One of his last films was She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),in which he played Native American Chief Red Shirt.
Johnson retired from the film industry in 1950 and passed away on January 9, 1978, at the age of 96 in Yucaipa, California. He is buried in the Garden of Peace at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California.
