Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Madame Sul-Te-Wan (born Nellie Crawford; March 7, 1873 – February 1, 1959) was an American actress.

She was the first African-American actress to sign a film contract and be a featured performer. She was an American stage, film and television actress for more than 50 years. The daughter of former slaves, she began her career in entertainment touring the East Coast with various theatrical companies and moved to California to become a member of the fledgling film community. She became known as a character actress, appeared in high-profile films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), and easily navigated the transition to the sound films.

In 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Early life Nellie Crawford was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to former slaves Cleon De Londa and Silas Crawford. Her father left the family early in her life, and her mother became a laundress for Louisville stage actresses. Young Nellie became enchanted by watching the young actresses rehearse when she delivered laundry for her mother. When she was older she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, joined a theatrical company called Three Black Cloaks, and began billing herself as "Creole Nell". She also formed her own theatrical companies and toured the East Coast. After moving to California, Crawford began her film career in uncredited roles in director D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 drama Birth of a Nation. Crawford had allegedly written Griffith a letter of introduction after hearing that Griffith was shooting a film in her Kentucky hometown. Griffith had intended that he would play a rich landowner who spits in the face of a woman who slights him. The scene was cut by the censors but Crawford was hired at $3 a day and this became the first contract for a black woman when she was hired at $25 a week. Sul-Te-Wan had managed to get the role by her extravagant dress which caught Griffith's attention. but Conley abandoned his family when the third boy was only three weeks old. Two of her sons, Odel Conley and Onest Conley, became actors and appeared in several films. Some of these films featured their mother.

When Crawford began using the stage name "Madame Sul-Te-Wan" is unknown; its first appearance on a cast list is in 1931, as the character of Voodoo Sue in Heaven on Earth. The origin of the name is also unknown; historian Donald Bogle observed that it suggests a mixed race ancestry, which allowed her to play East Asian, American Indian, Spanish, African and Negro character roles. Bolstering this, Jet claimed in 1959 that her father had been "a Hindu manservant", while the 2003 Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance noted allegations that her father had been Native Hawaiian.

Early film career Following her roles for Griffith, "Madame Sul-Te-Wan" followed up in 1916 with an uncredited role in the Anita Loos-penned drama The Children Pay with Lillian Gish and, again uncredited, in 1917 with Gish's sister Dorothy in the Edward Morrissey-directed drama Stage Struck.

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Sul-Te-Wan would establish herself as a publicly recognizable character actress. In 1918 she appeared (uncredited) in Tarzan of the Apes as Jane's maid, Esmerelda.

In 1937, Sul-Te-Wan was cast in the role of Tituba for the film Maid of Salem, a dramatic retelling of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Sul-Te-Wan's performance garnered critical praise.

Later career

On September 12, 1953, a banquet was held at the Hollywood Playground Auditorium by motion picture actors and film personalities to honor Sul-Te-Wan. Among its 200 attendees were Louise Beavers, Rex Ingram, Mae Marsh, Eugene Pallette and Maude Eburne.

In 1954 Sul-Te-Wan appeared uncredited in the Otto Preminger directed African-American themed musical drama Carmen Jones opposite Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, and Pearl Bailey as Dandridge's grandmother. The film marked a rare departure for Sul-Te-Wan from four decades of predominantly "Mammy" roles. Her pairing with Dandridge led some to believe that Sul-Te-Wan was Dandridge's actual grandmother; the two women were actually unrelated. During the 1950s, while in her 80s, she continued to appear onscreen in a number of well-received films, albeit now mostly in smaller bit parts and often uncredited. Her last screen appearance came in the 1958 Anthony Quinn-directed adventure film The Buccaneer, starring Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston.

Death On February 1, 1959, Madame Sul-Te-Wan died after suffering a stroke at the age of 85 at the Motion Picture Actors' Home in Woodland Hills, California. She was interred at the Pierce Brothers' Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California.

Legacy and honors Sul-Te-Wan was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1986.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1915 The Cause of It All Mary – the Hotel Cook 1915 The Birth of a Nation Black woman (Dr. Cameron's taunter) Uncredited 1916 Hoodoo Ann Black Cindy Uncredited 1916 Intolerance Girl at Marriage Market (Babylonian Story) Uncredited 1916 The Children Pay Uncredited 1917 Stage Struck Uncredited; also known as Stagestruck 1918 Old Wives for New Viola's Maid Uncredited 1918 Tarzan of the Apes Esmeralda (Jane's Maid) Uncredited 1918 Who's Your Father? Black Mother Uncredited 1920 Why Change Your Wife? Sally's Maid Uncredited 1922 Manslaughter Prison Inmate Uncredited 1924 The Lightning Rider Mammy 1925 The Narrow Street Easter 1925 The Golden Bed Boarding House Maid Uncredited 1927 College Cook Uncredited 1927 Uncle Tom's Cabin Slave at Wedding Uncredited 1929 Queen Kelly Kali Sana – Aunt's Cook Uncredited 1929 The Carnation Kid The Maid Uncredited 1930 Sarah and Son Ashmore's Maid Uncredited 1930 The Thoroughbred Sacharine Alternative title: Riding to Win 1931 The Pagan Lady Carla the Servant Uncredited 1931Heaven on Earth Voodoo Sue Alternative title: Mississippi 1932 Jungle Mystery Native Woman in Stockade Uncredited 1933 Ladies They Talk About Prisoner Mustard UncreditedAlternative title: Women in Prison 1933 King Kong Native Handmaiden Uncredited 1934 A Modern Hero Mme. Azais' Neighbor Uncredited 1934 Operator 13 Slave at Medicine Show Uncredited 1934 Black Moon Ruva 1934 Imitation of Life Black Cook Uncredited 1935 So Red the Rose Slave Uncredited 1936 San Francisco Earthquake Survivor Uncredited 1937 Maid of Salem Tituba 1937 In Old Chicago Hattie Credited as Madame Sultewan 1938 Island in the Sky Scrubwoman Uncredited 1938 The Toy Wife Eve, a Black Servant UncreditedAlternative title: Frou Frou 1938 The Affairs of Annabel Benzedrina, a Convict Uncredited 1938 Kentucky Lily 1939 Tell No Tales Jim Alley's mother UncreditedAlternative title: A Hundred to One 1939 Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite Ruby – Black Convict Woman Uncredited 1940 Safari Native Woman 1940 Maryland Naomi Uncredited 1940 Love Thy Neighbor Lady McBeth Uncredited 1941 King of the Zombies Tahama, the Cook and High Priestess 1941 Sullivan's Travels Church harmonium player Uncredited 1942 Mokey Miss Cully, old black woman Uncredited 1943 Revenge of the Zombies Mammy Beulah, the housekeeper Alternative title: The Corpse Vanished 1943 Thank Your Lucky Stars Bit in "Ice Cold Katie" Number Uncredited 1949 Mighty Joe Young Young family servant UncreditedAlternative title: Mr. Joseph Young of Africa 1949 The Story of Seabiscuit Libby Uncredited 1954 Carmen Jones Hagar – Carmen's Grandmother Uncredited 1955 Medic Grandma Jorson Episode: "All My Mothers, All My Fathers" 1957 Something of Value Midwife UncreditedAlternative title: Africa Ablaze 1957 Band of Angels Flower Vendor Uncredited 1958 The Buccaneer Good Luck Charm Vendor 1958 Tarzan and the Trappers Witch Woman (final film role)