James B. Lowe

American film actor

James B. Lowe
Lowe, c. 1922
Born	James Buchanan Lowe October 10, 1880 Macon, Georgia, USA
Died	May 19, 1963 (aged 82) 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.^[1]^[2]^[3]

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.^[4]

He first began a career as a stage actor before beginning to appear in movies in the mid-1920s.^[5] 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.^[6]^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

Filmography

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
Should Sleepwalkers Marry? (1926)
Hour of Reckoning (1926)
Blue Blazes (1926)
The Demon Rider (1925)

References

^ ""Uncle Tom" Star for "Goin' Home"". Daily News. 25 Jun 1928. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ Wintz, Cary D.; Finkelman, Paul (2004). Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: K-Y. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-57958-458-0.
^ "James B. Lowe, circa 1922 - UCLA Library Digital Collections". digital.library.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ "Charles Ray Helps Corinne Griffith's "Garden of Eden" Bloom". Daily News. 10 Sep 1927. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ "Will Represent James B. Lowe". The Los Angeles Times. 20 Apr 1927. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ "1927 Movie Notice". utc.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ Whitington, Paul (7 February 2015). "Film: Long and troubled history of black Hollywood". Independent. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ "James B. Lowe Taking London by Storm". The Pittsburgh Courier. 25 Feb 1928. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ "James B. Lowe Pioneer Actor's Last Rites Set". California Eagle. 23 May 1963. Retrieved 2021-09-01.