The Resume

(March 1, 1930-August 27, 1990)
Born in Hartford, Connecticut
Birth name was James Arthur Johnson
Portrayed Simon Blake on ‘Rawhide’ (1965-66)
Appeared in the films ‘Black Like Me’ (1964), ‘The Pawnbroker’ (1965), ‘The Comedians’ (1967), ‘Change of Mind’ (1969), ‘Cotton Comes to Harlem’ (1970), ‘Come Back, Charleston Blue’ (1972), ‘The Book of Numbers’ (1973), ‘The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover’ (1977), ‘The Evil That Men Do’ (1984), ‘They Live’ (1988), ‘Glory’ (1989) and ‘Timebomb’ (1991)
Directed and produced ‘The Book of Numbers’ (1973)
Appeared in the miniseries ‘Roots’ (1977)
Died of AIDS-related lymphoma at age 60

Why he might be annoying:

He described several of his early acting jobs as being the ‘token nigger’ in the cast.
He presented model Sterling St. Jacques as either his nephew or his adopted son, when they were actually lovers.
He complained about blaxploitation films (‘Why does it have to be pimps and pushers on the screen all the time?’) despite appearing in several.

Why he might not be annoying:

He served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
In addition to acting with the American Shakespeare Festival, he served as their fencing instructor.
He taught both acting and fencing at the Mafundi Institute in Watts.
He was fluent in French and Italian.
He was the first black actor with a regular role in a Western TV series.
He won the first NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for ‘Change of Mind.’
He was arrested during an anti-apartheid demonstration outside the South African embassy in Washington, DC (1985).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Actors Turned Directors
• Allegedly Gay Men
• Blaxploitation Film Stars
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 69]
• Cowboys and Gals
• Daniel Boone - Guest Stars
• I Attended Yale
• I Boarded the Love Boat [R-Z]
• I Died in 1990 (Ranked: 60)
• I Have AIDS/HIV
• I Portrayed Martin Luther King, Jr.
• I Portrayed Othello
• I Visited Fantasy Island [R-Z]
• I'm Buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery [Calif]
• Murder She Wrote Guest Stars
• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture (Ranked: 1969)
• Profiles 43751-43954 (Ranked: 43787)
• Roots [1977]
• Served in the Korean War
• Teachers
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19900827)

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 72 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 21 Votes: 47.62% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying