Jack Carter

Jack Carter (c. 1902 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor. He is known for creating the role of Crown in the original Broadway production of Porgy, and for starring in Orson Welles stage productions including Macbeth (1936) and Doctor Faustus (1937). He appeared in a few motion pictures in the 1930s and 1940s.

Career Jack Carter created the role of Crown in the original stage production of Porgy. | From 1928 to 1929 Carter portrayed Crown in a national tour production of Porgy. The tour included nine weeks in Chicago, six weeks in London, and performances in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and cities in the northwestern United States and Canada From September 16 to October 24, 1931, Carter portrayed the role of Dave Crocker in Singin' the Blues at the Liberty Theatre in New York. During 1934 Carter performance in a New York production of Stevedore as Lonnie Thompson at the Civic Repertory Theatre. He started the role in April through July, and resumed his role in October through November 1934.

He is perhaps best known for having starred in the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth that came to be known as the Voodoo Macbeth. Orson Welles adapted and directed the play, moved its setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island, recruited an entirely African American cast, and earned the nickname for his production from the Haitian vodou that fulfilled the rôle of Scottish witchcraft. In 1936, at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, New York, a free preview drew 3,000 more people than could be seated

Welles later cast Carter as Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus (1937), a Federal Theatre Project 891 production in which Welles played Faust. 1927-28

Guild Theatre, Broadway 1928–29 US National tour 1929–30 2nd National tour 1931 Singin' the Blues Dave Crocker Liberty Theatre, New York 1936

Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, New York 1936 Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, New York 1936 Adelphi Theatre on Broadway 1937 Doctor Faustus Mephistopheles Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York 1939 Straight to Heaven Stanley Jackson 1942 Take My Life Sergeant Holmes 1945 Confidential Agent Singer Uncredited 1947 Sepia Cinderella Ralph Williams 1948 Miracle in Harlem Philip Manley (final film role)