James B. Lowe
{{Short description|American film actor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = James B. Lowe
| image = James B. Lowe, c1922.jpg
| caption = Lowe, {{circa|1922}}
| birth_name = James Buchanan Lowe
| birth_date = October 10, 1880
| birth_place = Macon, Georgia, USA
| death_date = May 19, 1963 (aged 82)
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, USA
| occupation = Actor
}}
James B. Lowe (1880 - 1963) was an American stage and screen actor who was best known for his role in the 1927 silent film adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin.{{Cite web|date=25 Jun 1928|title="Uncle Tom" Star for "Goin' Home"|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/411478005/?terms=%22James%20b.%20Lowe%22&match=1|access-date=2021-09-01|website=Daily News|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Wintz|first1=Cary D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgIYlUbaoAoC&dq=%22james+b.+lowe%22+actor&pg=PA745|title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: K-Y|last2=Finkelman|first2=Paul|date=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-57958-458-0|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=James B. Lowe, circa 1922 - UCLA Library Digital Collections|url=https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/z12532dk|access-date=2021-09-01|website=digital.library.ucla.edu}}
Biography
James was born in Macon, Georgia, to James B. Lowe Sr. and Rachel Burton. As a young man, among other jobs, he reportedly worked as a gold miner in Alaska.{{Cite web|date=10 Sep 1927|title=Charles Ray Helps Corinne Griffith's "Garden of Eden" Bloom|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/411651458/?terms=%22James%20b.%20Lowe%22&match=1|access-date=2021-09-01|website=Daily News|language=en}}
He first began a career as a stage actor before beginning to appear in movies in the mid-1920s.{{Cite web|date=20 Apr 1927|title=Will Represent James B. Lowe|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/380389489/?terms=%22James%20b.%20Lowe%22&match=1|access-date=2021-09-01|website=The Los Angeles Times|language=en}} After a few minor roles, he took the lead in Uncle Tom's Cabin after fellow theatre actor Charles Gilpin dropped out of the picture. Although the film — and Lowe's performance — received favorable reviews among the general public at the time of its release, it has since been cited as contributing to defining the Uncle Tom stereotype.{{Cite web|title=1927 Movie Notice|url=http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/onstage/films/1927/fiar99pt.html|access-date=2021-09-01|website=utc.iath.virginia.edu}}{{Cite web |last=Whitington |first=Paul |date=7 February 2015 |title=Film: Long and troubled history of black Hollywood|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/film-long-and-troubled-history-of-black-hollywood-30963709.html|access-date=2021-09-01|website=Independent|language=en}}
After the success of Uncle Tom's Cabin, he returned to theatrical work, receiving rave notices for his roles in plays such as The South Before the War in Europe.{{Cite web|date=25 Feb 1928|title=James B. Lowe Taking London by Storm|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/40008235/?terms=%22James%20b.%20Lowe%22&match=1|access-date=2021-09-01|website=The Pittsburgh Courier|language=en}} In 1941, after working in Paris for over a decade, he returned to the United States, settling in Los Angeles and setting up shop as a tailor next to the Dunbar Hotel. He died in 1963.{{Cite web|date=23 May 1963|title=James B. Lowe Pioneer Actor's Last Rites Set|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/693428921/?terms=%22James%20b.%20Lowe%22&match=1|access-date=2021-09-01|website=California Eagle|language=en}}
Filmography
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
- Should Sleepwalkers Marry? (1926)
- Hour of Reckoning (1926)
- Blue Blazes (1926)
- The Demon Rider (1925)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|James B. Lowe}}
- {{IMDb name|0522962}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, James B.}}
Category:American male film actors
Category:Male actors from Macon, Georgia
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