Who Are The BLACK ACTORS Who Have Made 50 MOVIES Or More?

Jet, April 24, 2000

Certain actors have magnetic appeal and uncanny charm when they perform in films, managing to work movie magic on audiences for decades.

It can't be argued that James Earl Jones, Samuel L. Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg have the golden touch as actors. Their work speaks for itself as they are the only actors to have made 50 movies or more on the silver screen alone!

Other actors such as Louis Gossett Jr., Sidney Poitier and Alfre Woodard have made 50 or more movies if you count their television films as well.

James Earl Jones has made 120 films throughout his stellar career, which began in the '60s. Of those, 71 were motion pictures (films made for the silver screen). His film credits include The Great White Hope, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, Claudine, Bingo Longs Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, Gabriel's Fire, Patriots Games, Cry, The Beloved Country and A Family Thing. Taking up acting as a means to help him overcome stuttering, Jones has also become well known for having one of the most recognizable voices in entertainment history. He's won fame as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King and as the voice of CNN.

Samuel L. Jackson has 50 or more films under his belt and a bulk of those were made in the '90s. With a total of 73 films to his credit, 64 have been motion pictures. He recently was lauded as No. I for being the only actor to have made more movies--36 total--than any other actor during the '90s. He was the only Black male actor to make the list. Though Jackson's career began in the '70s, it wasn't until he delivered his stunning performance as the crack-addicted Gator Purify in Spike Lee's 1991 flick Jungle Fever that people began to take notice. Since that time he has gone on to appear in such films as Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Losing Isaiah, A Time To Kill, Eve's Bayou, Jackie Brown, The Negotiator, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and his current box-office success, Rules of Engagement.

Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg has made 67 films; 54 were motion pictures. Like Jackson, most of her movies were made in the '90s. With a total of 29 films completed last decade, Goldberg, at No. 3 on the list of actors who've made the most movies during the '90s, was the highest-ranking female and only Black female actor to make the list. Since her famed movie career began in the '80s, her flicks have included The Color Purple, Sister Act, Ghosts of Mississippi, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Deep End Of The Ocean, and Girl, Interrupted. In 1990, Goldberg won an Oscar for her riveting performance of spiritualist Oda Mae Brown in the 1990 box-office smash Ghost.

Louis Gossett Jr., whose career dates back to the '60s, has made a total of 85 films for the silver screen and television combined. Gossett, who aspired to become a basketball player and who was drafted by the New York Knicks out of college, turned his interest toward acting after a knee injury. Since then, he's been an acting whirlwind. He's won acclaim for his roles in the TV films Roots, The Father Clements Story, Strange Justice, Y2K and Love Songs. Silver screen movies for Gossett include The Deep, Enemy Mine, Iron Eagle and The Highwayman. His serious performance as the heartless gunnery sergeant Emil Foley in the hit movie An Officer and A Gentleman won him an Academy Award in 1982. Most recently he executive-produced and starred in the TV movie The Color of Love: Jacey's Story.

Famed veteran husband and wife actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have been married for more than 50 years and they've each made more than 50 movies for television and on the big screen throughout their celebrated careers. Ossie Davis has made 67; Ruby Dee has made 59. They've often been noted for movies they've made together such as the TV film Roots: The Next Generation and the popular big-screen movies Do The Right Thing and Jungle Fever. Individually, Ossie Davis has starred in the TV films 12 Angry Men and Miss Evers' Boys and in such motion pictures as I'm Not Rappaport, Get On The Bus and Grumpy Old Men. Ruby Dee has appeared in the TV movies Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, and Passing Glory, and her motion picture credits include Just Cause, The Wall, The Stand and Cop & 1/2.

Another actor with 50 or more television film or motion pictures to his credit is Sidney Poitier, who's made 64 films in his five-decade-long career. In 1963 he became the first Black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor with his role in the silver screen film Lilies of the Field. His motion pictures include A Patch of Blue, To Sir, with Love, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!, Let's Do It Again and Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier's TV films include Free of Eden, David and Lisa, Children of the Dust and Separate But Equal.

Alfre Woodard, whose career dates back to the '70s, has made 58 movies that include film and television productions. Her works include silver screen movies like Down in the Delta, Primal Fear, How To Make An American Quilt and Crooklyn. TV films for her consist of Miss Evers' Boys, Funny Valentines and Gulliver's Travels.