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Sam McDaniel

{{Short description|American actor (1886–1962)}}

{{for|the Australian basketball player|Sam McDaniel (basketball)}}

{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sam McDaniel

| image = Sam McDaniel in Broadway Limited.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = McDaniel in Broadway Limited (1941)

| birth_date = {{birth date|1886|1|28|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Wichita, Kansas, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1962|9|24|1886|1|28}}

| death_place = Woodland Hills, California, U.S.

| yearsactive = 1929–1960

| spouse =

| relatives = Hattie McDaniel (sister)
Etta McDaniel (sister)

| birth_name = Samuel Rufus McDaniel

| othername = Sam Deacon McDaniel
Deacon McDaniels
Sam McDaniels

| website =

}}

Samuel Rufus McDaniel (January 28, 1886{{spaced ndash}}September 24, 1962)Tanner, Beccy (November 7, 1991). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=66768740 "McDaniel Opened Doors; 'Gone With the Wind' Was Actress' Most Famous Film"]. The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 3, 2021. was an American actor who appeared in over 210 television shows and films between 1929 and 1950.Kear, Lynn; Rossman, John (2016) [https://books.google.com/books?id=wzi1QjokREkC&dq=%22appeared+in+almost+200+films%22+%22Sam+McDaniel%22&pg=PA252 The Complete Kay Francis Career Record]. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p.252. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3198-4}}. He was the older brother of actresses Etta McDaniel and Hattie McDaniel.

Early life

Born in Wichita, Kansas, to former slaves, McDaniel was one of 13 children.Bogle, Donald (2019). [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Fw7DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22one+of+thirteen+children%22&pg=PT153 Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers]. New York: Perseus Books. p. 199. {{ISBN|978-0-7624-9141-4}}. His father Henry McDaniel fought in the Civil War with the 122nd USCT and his mother, Susan Holbert, was a singer of gospel music. In 1900, the family moved to Colorado, living first in Fort Collins and then in Denver where he grew up and graduated from Denver East High School. The children of the McDaniel family had a traveling minstrel show. After the death of brother Otis in 1916, the troupe began to lose money. In 1931, McDaniel found work in Los Angeles with sisters Hattie, Etta and Orlena. Sam was working on KNX radio program called The Optimistic Doughnut Hour, and he was able to get his sister a spot.

Career

McDaniel almost exclusively played butler, doormen, valet, porter and servant roles in films.

He played Doc, the competent ship's cook, in the Oscar-winning 1937 film Captains Courageous. He also played Spiffingham the Butler in the Three Stooges film Heavenly Daze (1948). He is the only African-American to ever appear on I Love Lucy, playing "Sam the Porter" in the 1955 episode "The Great Train Robbery". He appeared uncredited as a waiter on a train in both the 1947 film The Egg and I (with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert) and its first followup Ma and Pa Kettle (1949). He also played various supporting roles on TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show (1951–53).

Death

McDaniel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1962, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

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The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940) as William Lovelace Jackson, Porter

{{div col end}}

References

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External links

{{commons category|Sam McDaniel}}

  • {{IMDb name|0567434|Sam McDaniel}}
  • {{Find a Grave|11845336}}

{{Amos 'n' Andy}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McDaniel, Sam}}

Category:1886 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

Category:Male actors from Wichita, Kansas

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century African-American male actors

Category:East High School (Denver, Colorado) alumni