Canada Lee
Personal information
- Known for
- Acting
- Known credits
- 8
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- March 3, 1907
- Died
- May 9, 1952
- Place of birth
- Manhattan, New York, US
- Also known as
- Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata
Biography
Canada Lee (born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata; March 3, 1907 – May 9, 1952) was an American professional boxer and then an actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. After careers as a jockey, boxer and musician, he became an actor in the Federal Theatre Project, including the 1936 production of Macbeth adapted and directed by Orson Welles. A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, Lee was blacklisted and died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He advanced the African American tradition in theatre pioneered by such actors as Paul Robeson.
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