The Life of Avon Long

A tip of the hat today to singer, dancer, actor, and all-around performer Avon Long (1910-1984).

A Baltimore native, Long got his start in Harlem in the late 1920s, at such venues as the Lafayette Theatre and the Cotton Club. Early credits include a 1933 revival of Fats Waller’sHot Chocolates, the 1934 revue Cotton Club Parade (with Lena Horne), and the 1935 film short Cab Calloway’s Jitterbug Party. His casting in the 1936 show Black Rhythm led to a Broadway career lasting over 40 years, distinguished by such productions as Very Warm for May (1939-40), a long stint as Sportin’ Life in a revival of Porgy and Bess (1942-44), followed by Memphis Bound (1945), Carib Song (1945), The Pied Piper of Hamlin (1946), Beggar’s Holiday (1946-47), a 1951 revival of The Green Pastures, a 1952 revival of Shuffle Along, then Mrs, Patterson (1954-55), Don’t Play Us Cheap (1972), and finally Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976-77), which played for nearly two years. His Broadway years enabled him to work alongside such fellow greats as Jeni LeGon, J. Rosamond Johnson, Bill Robinson, Edith Wilson, Katherine Dunham, Eartha Kitt, Thelma Carpenter, Esther Rolle,Mabel King, et al

Long’s screen career was less extensive, though it was really picking up in his later years. He apparently performed a number in Ziegfeld Follies (1945) that was cut but you can see him perform early specialties in Centennial Summer (1946) and Romance on the High Seas (1948). He had small roles in such movies as The Rack (1956) with Paul Newman, 13 West Street (1962) with Alan Ladd and Rod Steiger, and Finian’s Rainbow (1968). He was originally to have played George Jefferson on All in the Family (prior to the spin-off) but was replaced with Sherman Helmsley because he reportedly didn’t click with Carol O’Connor. His prominent role in the screen version of Don’t Play Us Cheap (1972), led to roles in the major movies The Sting (1973), and Harry and Tonto (1974).

After the successful Bubbling Brown Sugar, he appeared in the Italian-French co-production Bye Bye Monkey (1978) with Gérard Depardieu, Marcello Mastroianni, James Coco, and Geraldine Fitzgerald. This was followed by the role of the older Chicken George in Roots: The Next Generation (1979), a part in the tv movie FDR: The Last Year (1980), and a memorable part as Ralph Bellamy’s servant in the hit comedy Trading Places (1983) with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. His final role was in Tom Schiller’s notorious Nothing Lasts Forever (1984).

For more on show biz history,pleaseconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.