BLUE WASHINGTON

Blue Washington (born Edgar Hughes Washington) was one of the many talented black African American actors of the 1920s and 1930s who were forced to take stereotyped roles, due to the prejudices of the time. Washington was unusual among black actors at this time, because although he appeared in minor roles in such major movies as King Kong and Hallelujah, and became friendly with John Ford and Frank Capra (who gave him his nickname "Blue"), he saw how limited his movie career would be, and he became an LAPD police officer, but he continued to make movies steadily until 1953, and then made one final appearance in The Hustler in 1961! He passed away in 1970 at the age of 72.