Adolph Caesar

Adolph Caesar
Caesar in 1979
Born	(1933-12-05)December 5, 1933 Harlem, New York City, U.S.
Died	March 6, 1986(1986-03-06) (aged 52) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1969–1986
Known for	Playing Sgt. Waters in A Soldier's Play and its film adaptation A Soldier's Story
Spouse	Diane ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	3

Adolph Caesar (December 5, 1933 – March 6, 1986) was an American film and theater actor. Known for his signature deep voice, Caesar was a staple of off-Broadway as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, and as a voiceover artist for numerous film trailers. He earned widespread acclaim for his performance as Sgt. Vernon Waters in Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play, a role he reprised in the 1984 film adaptation A Soldier's Story, for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

Early life and education

Caesar was born in Harlem, New York City in 1933 as the youngest of three sons born to a Dominican mother and a black indigenous father. At age 12, he contracted laryngitis which led to his notably deep voice.

After graduating from George Washington High School in 1952, Caesar enlisted in the United States Navy during the Korean War era, serving as a hospital corpsman for five years, achieving the rank of chief petty officer. Upon his discharge from the service, he decided to break into the theater and went on to study drama at New York University, graduating in 1962.

Career

Early career

Caesar made his film debut in 1969 in Che!, playing Cuban revolutionary Juan Almeida Bosque. A year later, Caesar became an announcer for and then joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1970 for productions such as The River Niger, Square Root of the Soul, and The Brownsville Raid. Caesar also later worked with the Minnesota Theater Company, Inner City Repertory Company, and the American Shakespeare Theatre. He had a stint on the soap operas Guiding Light and General Hospital in 1964 and 1969, respectively.

Thanks to his voice, Caesar found frequent work as a voice-over artist for television and radio commercials, including theatrical previews and radio commercials for many blaxploitation films such as Cleopatra Jones, Superfly, Truck Turner and The Spook Who Sat by the Door. For many years, he was the voice of the United Negro College Fund's publicity campaign, reciting the iconic slogan "...because a mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Later in his career, Caesar also lent his voice to the animated series Silverhawks, in which he voiced Hotwing, a magician and skilled illusionist.

In 1980, Caesar appeared in the infamous Bruceploitation mockumentary Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, playing himself as a fictional television news reporter investigating the death of Bruce Lee.

A Soldier's Play

Caesar’s most iconic work started with his role as US Army Sergeant Vernon C. Waters in Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage drama, A Soldier's Play, for which Caesar won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and an Obie Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement. A Soldier’s Play is set in Louisiana during World War II. Sgt. Waters is an ambitious Black drill sergeant who strives for recognition for African-American soldiers while detesting "Geechees", as he terms uneducated, subservient, and unintelligent southern Blacks, as an obstacle to racial equality and the success of the future African American upper class, and who need to be removed at all costs. The play and film are a murder mystery that unfolds in flashbacks, as a Black JAG Captain investigates Sgt. Waters' murder at the beginning of the play and which the Captain eventually reveals to have been a fragging by one of Waters' own men.

In a 1985 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Caesar stated, while crafting the character of Waters, he drew on his experiences with racism in Classical theatre, "I’d studied Shakespeare to death. I knew more about Shakespeare than Shakespeare knew about himself. After I did one season at a Shakespearean repertory company, a director said to me, ‘You have a marvelous voice. You know the king’s English well. You speak iambic pentameter. My suggestion is that you go to New York and get a good colored role.' Waters has tried his best, but no matter what you do, they still hate you." Caesar subsequently coined the character's signature phrase, "They still hate you".

Caesar subsequently reprised his role as Waters in Norman Jewison's 1984 film adaptation of Fuller's play, retitled A Soldier's Story. His performance was acclaimed and earned him numerous accolades, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He also won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Later career

On the basis of his Soldier's Story success, Caesar was cast in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple as Old Mister Johnson, the father of Danny Glover's character. He also appeared on an episode of The Twilight Zone and an ABC Afterschool Special. Caesar's last completed film was Club Paradise, released posthumously.

Personal life and death

Caesar had three children with his wife Diane, whom he was married to until his death.

Caesar was working on the Los Angeles set of the 1986 film Tough Guys (with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) when he suffered a heart attack and died a short time later. His role was recast with Eli Wallach. He was interred at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Works

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1969	Che!	Juan Almeida	Richard Fleischer
1975	Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle	Brutish (voice)	Picha Boris Szulzinger	English-language version
1979	The Hitter	Nathan	Christopher Leitch
1980	Fist of Fear, Touch of Death	Himself	Matthew Mallinson
1984	A Soldier's Story	Sgt. Vernon Waters	Norman Jewison
1985	The Color Purple	Old Mister Johnson	Steven Spielberg
1986	Club Paradise	Prime Minister Solomon Gundy	Harold Ramis	Released posthumously

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Wild Wild West	Vidoq	Episode: "The Night of the Gruesome Games"
1969	General Hospital	Douglas Burke
1970	The Challenge	Clarence Opano	Television film
1978	Watch Your Mouth	Jeff Cremer	2 episodes
1984	Guiding Light	Zamana
1985	Tales from the Darkside	Mars Gillis	Episode: "Parlour Floor Front"
1986	The Twilight Zone	The Supervisor	Episode: "A Matter of Minutes"
	Fortune Dane	Charles Dane	Episode: "Pilot"
	ABC Afterschool Specials	Dr. Rancid	Episode: "Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge"
	SilverHawks	Hotwing / Seymour (voices)	Main cast

Theatre (partial)

Year	Title	Role	Director	Theatre	Notes
1965–67	Happy Ending / Day of Absence	Jackson	Philip Meister	St. Mark's Playhouse
1971	Rosalee Pritchett	Robert Barron	Shauneille Perry
	Perry's Mission	Lester "Bobo" Johnson	Douglas Turner Ward
	Ride a Black Horse	Harold
	Mary Stuart	Count Bellievre	Jules Irving	Vivian Beaumont Theater	Broadway debut
1971–72	The Sty of the Blind Pig	Doc	Shauneille Perry	St. Mark's Playhouse
1972	A Ballet Behind the Bridge	Lalsingh	Douglas Turner Ward		Also choreographer
	Frederick Douglass...Through His Own Words	Frederick Douglass			Also playwright
1974	Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide	The Newscaster	Dean Irby
1975	Waiting for Mongo	Doodybug	Douglas Turner Ward
1976–77	The Brownsville Raid	Pvt. James Holliman	Israel Hicks	Lucille Lortel Theatre
1977	The Square Root of Soul	—	Perry Schwartz		As playwright
1979	Plays from Africa		Dean Irby	St. Mark's Playhouse
1979	A Season to Unravel	Garrison	Glenda Dickerson
1980	Lagrima del Diablo	Aquilo	Richard Gant
1981–83	A Soldier's Play	Sgt. Vernon Waters	Douglas Turner Ward	Julia Miles Theater

Awards and honors

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Outcome
Academy Award	1985	Best Supporting Actor	A Soldier's Story	Nominated
Daytime Emmy Award	1987	Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming	ABC Afterschool Specials ("Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge")	Nominated
Drama Desk Award	1982	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play	A Soldier's Play	Won
Golden Globe Award	1985	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	A Soldier's Story	Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association	1984	Best Supporting Actor		Won
NAACP Image Award	1985	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture		Won
Obie Award	1983	Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement	A Soldier's Play	Won

References

• "Adolph Caesar Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.

External links

• Adolph Caesar at the Internet Broadway Database
• Adolph Caesar at IMDb
• Adolph Caesar's Entry at the Lortel Archives
• Adolph Caesar's Entry at the Grindhouse Database
• Los Angeles Times