Blue Washington
Edgar Hughes "Blue" Washington (26 February 1898 – 15 September 1970) was an American actor and baseball player who played in the Negro leagues from 1915 to 1920 as a pitcher and first baseman. Baseball career Washington started his baseball career as a pitcher with the Chicago American Giants in 1915. He remained with Chicago in 1916. He later played with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1920, appearing in 24 documented major league games. Acting career He appeared in 74 films between 1919 and 1957, mostly playing small, uncredited roles as a porter, a bartender, an African native (as in King Kong (1933) and Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), a cook, a chauffeur, a ship's crew member, a Nubian slave, and a doorman. Some of his characters had names such as "Ulambo", "Sambo" (sambo) and "Hambone". In the 1933 film Haunted Gold, he portrayed Clarence, John Wayne's comic sidekick. He had uncredited appearances in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone with the Wind (1939). Personal Washington was the son of Susie Washington and had three siblings. He became a boxer at age 14 with the stage name of "Kid Blue." His separated from his partner Marian Lenàn when their son Kenny was two years old. He was given the nickname "Blue" by film director Frank Capra when both were kids. Washington's son, Kenny Washington, a standout athlete at UCLA where he was a teammate of Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in the National Football League in 1946. Filmography Haunted Spooks (1920, Short) as Butler (film debut) (uncredited) A Virginia Courtship (1921) The Blood Ship (1927) as Minor Role By Whose Hand? (1927) as Eli The Haunted Ship (1927) as Mose The Smart Set (1928) as Polo Fan (uncredited) Wyoming (1928) as Mose Ransom (1928) as Oliver Beggars of Life (1928) as Black Mose Do Your Duty (1928) as Dude Jackson The Passion Song (1928) as Ulambo The Phantom City (1928) as 'Blue' Weary River (1929) as Prisoner in Bathtub (uncredited) Black Magic (1929) as Unit Hallelujah (1929) as Church Member (uncredited) Rio Rita (1929) as Fremont Bank Robber (uncredited) Welcome Danger (1929) as Thorne's Black Henchman (uncredited) Parade of the West (1930) as Sambo Lucky Larkin (1930) as Hambone Mountain Justice (1930) as Mose (uncredited) The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa (1930) as Native Golf Champion (uncredited) Desert Vengeance (1931) as Train Porter (uncredited) Kiki (1931) (uncredited) Guilty Hands (1931) as Johnny (uncredited) Haunted Gold (1932) as Clarence King Kong (1933) as Warrior (uncredited) King of the Arena (1933) as Sambo (uncredited) Her Bodyguard (1933) as Chauffeur (uncredited) One Year Later (1933) as Train Porter (uncredited) Goodbye Love (1933) as Jail Steward (uncredited) Roman Scandals (1933) as Litter Bearer (uncredited) Belle of the Nineties (1934) as Doorman at Sensation House (uncredited) Menace (1934) as Kenya Manservant (uncredited) The Whole Town's Talking (1935) as Bank Doorman (uncredited) The Crusades (1935) as One of Saladin's Guards (uncredited) The Virginia Judge (1935) as 1st Black Man (uncredited) Annie Oakley (1935)