Noble Johnson

Noble Johnson (April 18, 1881 – January 9, 1978), later known as Mark Noble, was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in films such as The Mummy, The Most Dangerous Game (1932), King Kong (1933) and Son of Kong (1933). He founded Lincoln Motion Picture Company.

Biography Johnson was born in 1881 in Marshall, Missouri. He was of African-American ancestry. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. At age fifteen, Johnson left school to help his father, a horse trader, with work. In 1909, Johnson entered the film industry. Standing 6'2" and weighing 215 pounds, Johnson had an impressive physique that made him in demand as a character actor and bit player. In the silent era, he assumed a wide variety of characters of different races due to his lighter complexion. While Johnson was cast as black characters in many films, he also played Native American, Arab, and Asian parts.

Noble was good friends with fellow actor Lon Chaney, his schoolmate in Colorado. He was also an entrepreneur, founding his own studio, Lincoln Motion Picture Company, in 1916 in Omaha, Nebraska, with his younger brother George Perry Johnson. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was an African-American film company (apart from director Harry A. Gant) that produced what were called "race films", movies made for the African-American audience, which was largely ignored by the "mainstream" film industry, and was the first to produce movies portraying African-Americans as real people instead of as racist caricatures (Johnson was followed into the race film business by Oscar Micheaux and others). Johnson, who served as president of the company and was its primary asset as a star actor, helped support the studio by acting in other companies' productions such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), and investing his pay from those films in Lincoln. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company moved to Los Angeles in 1917.

Lincoln's first picture was The Realization of a Negro's Ambition (1916). For four years, Johnson managed to keep Lincoln a going concern, primarily through his extraordinary commitment to African-American filmmaking. However, he reluctantly resigned as president in 1920 because he could no longer continue his double business life, maintaining a demanding career in Hollywood films while trying to run a studio.

In the 1920s, Johnson was a very busy character actor, appearing in silent films such as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille's original The Ten Commandments (1923), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Dante's Inferno (1924) and When a Man Loves (1927). He made the transition to sound films, appearing in The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) as Li Po, in Moby Dick (1930) as Queequeg to John Barrymore's Captain Ahab, and in the Boris Karloff film The Mummy (1932) as "the Nubian". He was also the Native Chief on Skull Island in the classic King Kong (1933) (and its sequel The Son of Kong, 1933) and appeared in Frank Capra's classic Lost Horizon (1937) as one of the porters. One of his later films was John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), in which he played Native American Chief Red Shirt. He retired from the movie industry in 1950.

Johnson died of natural causes on January 9, 1978, in Yucaipa, California. He is buried in the Garden of Peace at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California.

Selected filmography

Intolerance (1916) as Babylonian Soldier (uncredited) Kinkaid, Gambler (1916) as Romero Valdez 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916) (uncredited) Fighting for Love (1917) as Johnny Little Bear Love Aflame (1917) as Cannibal King The Terror (1917) as Mike Tregurtha Mr. Dolan of New York (1917) as Thomas Jefferson Jones The Hero of the Hour (1917) as Native American The Red Ace (1917) as Little Bear Bull's Eye (1917) as Sweeney Bodin The Law of Nature (1917) The Lure of the Circus (1918) as Silent Andy The Midnight Man (1919) as Spike Lightning Bryce (1919) as Dopey Sam's Henchman (Episode #5) / Arnold's Butler (Episodes #12 & #13) (uncredited) Under Crimson Skies (1920) as Baltimore Bucko The Adorable Savage (1920) as Ratu Madri Sunset Sprague (1920) as The Crow The Leopard Woman (1920) as Chaké - Madame's Slave The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) as Conquest (uncredited) The Wallop (1921) as Espinol The Bronze Bell (1921) as Chatterji Serenade (1921) as Capt. Ramirez The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1922) as Friday Tracks (1922) as Leon Serrano The Loaded Door (1922) as Blackie Lopez Captain Fly-by-Night (1922) as Indian (uncredited) Drums of Fate (1923) as Native King Haunted Valley (1923) Burning Words (1923) as Bad Pierre The Ten Commandments (1923) as The Bronze Man (Prologue) A Man's Mate (1924) as Lion The Thief of Bagdad (1924) as The Indian Prince The Midnight Express (1924) as Deputy Sheriff Little Robinson Crusoe (1924) as Marimba, Cannibal Chief Dante's Inferno (1924) as Devil Whipping Woman (uncredited) The Navigator (1924) as Cannibal Chief (uncredited) The Dancers (1925) as Ponfilo Adventure (1925) as Googomy Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) as Crowd Member (uncredited) The Gold Hunters (1925) as Wabigoon Hands Up! (1926) as Sitting Bull The Law of the Snow Country (1926) as Martell The Flaming Frontier (1926) as Chief Sitting Bull Aloma of the South Seas (1926) The Lady of the Harem (1926) as Tax Collector When a Man Loves (1927) as Aggressive Apache (uncredited) Red Clay (1927) as Chief Bear Paw The King of Kings (1927) as Charioteer Vanity (1927) as Bimbo, Ship's Cook Topsy and Eva (1927) as Uncle Tom Soft Cushions (1927) as The Captain of the Guard The Gateway of the Moon (1928) as Soriano Something Always Happens (1928) as The Thing Why Sailors Go Wrong (1928) as Native (uncredited) The Yellow Cameo (1928) as Smoke Dawson Manhattan Knights (1928) as Doc Mellis The Black Ace (1928) Yellow Contraband (1928) as Li Wong Foo Noah's Ark (1928) as Slave Broker Sal of Singapore (1928) as Erickson's 1st Mate Redskin (1929) as Pueblo Jim Black Waters (1929) as Jeelo The Four Feathers (1929) as Ahmed The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) as Li Po Mamba (1930) as Hassim (uncredited) Moby Dick (1930) as Queequeg Renegades (1930) as Youssef (uncredited) Kismet (1930) (uncredited) Son of India (1931) as Guard (uncredited) East of Borneo (1931) as Osman Safe in Hell (1931) as Bobo, Caribbean Policeman Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) as Janos The Black One Mystery Ranch (1932) as Mudo, Henchman The Most Dangerous Game (1932) as Ivan The Mummy (1932) as The Nubian Nagana (1933) as Head Boatman White Woman (1933) as Native Chief (uncredited) King Kong (1933) as Native Chief Roman Scandals (1933) as Torturer (uncredited) Son of Kong (1933) as Native Chief (uncredited) Massacre (1934) as Indian Leader (uncredited) Murder in Trinidad (1934) as Queechie Kid Millions (1934) as Attendant (uncredited) The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) as Ram Singh She (1935) as Amahaggar Chief (uncredited) Dante's Inferno (1935) as Devil (uncredited) Escape from Devil's Island (1935) as Bisco My American Wife (1936) as Native American Nation Leader (uncredited) Mummy's Boys (1936) as Tattoo Artist (uncredited) The Plainsman (1936) as Native American #1 with Painted Horse (uncredited) Lost Horizon (1937) as Leader of Porters on return journey (uncredited) Wee Willie Winkie (1937) as Sikh Policeman (uncredited) Conquest (1937) as Roustan (uncredited) Four Men and a Prayer (1938) as Native (uncredited) Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) as Native Sergeant (uncredited) Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) as Mokuyi Frontier Pony Express (1939) as Luke Johnson, outlaw gang leader Juarez (1939) as Gen. Regules (uncredited) Union Pacific (1939) as Native American Shooting Piano (uncredited) Tropic Fury (1939) as Hannibal, Slave-Driver Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) as Indian (uncredited) Allegheny Uprising (1939) as Captured Delaware Native American (uncredited) Green Hell (1940) as Hostile, Tribe Chief (uncredited) The Ghost Breakers (1940) as The Zombie The Ranger and the Lady (1940) as Lobo North West Mounted Police (1940) as Indian (uncredited) Seven Sinners (1940) as Irate Russian (uncredited) Road to Zanzibar (1941) as Chief Hurry, Charlie, Hurry (1941) as Chief Poison Arrow Aloma of the South Seas (1941) as Moukali Shut My Big Mouth (1942) as Chief Standing Bull The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942) as Native Chief Elan Jungle Book (1942) as Sikh Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) as Tecumseh Danger in the Pacific (1942) as Native Chief (uncredited) Night in New Orleans (1942) as Carney Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) as Charlie the Indian (uncredited) The Desert Song (1943) as Abdel Rahmen (uncredited) A Game of Death (1945) as Carib Angel on My Shoulder (1946) as Trustee in Hell (uncredited) Plainsman and the Lady (1946) as Wassao Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947) as Hasson Slave Girl (1947) as Native Guard (uncredited) Along the Oregon Trail (1947) as Indian Chief (uncredited) Unconquered (1947) as Tall Ottawa Shot at Gilded Beaver (uncredited) The Gallant Legion (1948) as Chief Black Eagle (uncredited) Dream Girl (1948) as Bartender (uncredited) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) as Chief Red Shirt Rock Island Trail (1950) as Bent Creek North of the Great Divide (1950) as Nagura, Oseka Chief (final film role)