SPENCER BELL

Spencer Bell was a black African American silent actor from the 1910s to the 1930s. He is best remembered for playing Rastus, who became the Cowardly Lion in the 1925 "Wizard of Oz", but his is another sad Hollywood story. He was born in 1887, and was a veteran of World War I, and he started acting in 1922, but due to the prejudices of the time, was only offered stereotyped roles. In 1924, he got his big break in "Kid Speed", playing Larry Semon's co-race car driver, and that led to him getting the role opposite Larry Semon in "The Wizard of Oz" the following year (but sadly, Semon billed him as "G. Howe Black", which likely helped keep him from capitalizing on this success). He also made other movies with Larry Semon, but his career went downhill, and he had lesser roles in many of the Mickey McGuire comedy shorts and other comedy shorts. He apparently ran an acting troupe in Harlem in the early 1930s. Sadly, he passed away from complications due to stomach surgery in 1935, and he was only 47 years old.