Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sergio A. Mims in 'Shadow and Act': 'New Documentary In The Works On Actor & Gospel Composer Jester Hairston'

Jester Hairston

Shadow and Act

by Sergio A. Mims
September 10, 2013 12:24 AM
I think it’s fair to say that when most people think of Jester Hairston today they usually think of his role as Rolly Forbes...
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But Hairston, who passed away in 2000 at the remarkable age of 99, led a much more interesting and complex life. Not only was he an actor, starting his film career back in 1936 with hundreds of movies and TV performances, including Amos and Andy, In the Heat of the Night and dozens of musical shorts made during the 40’s and 50’s, Hairston was perhaps more well known as a composer (with some over 300 gospel songs to his credit), conductor, arranger and singer.
Born during the height of Jim Crow segregation in North Carolina in 1901, he graduated from high school in Pennsylvania in 1919, and from Tufts University with additional graduate work at Juilliard and the University of the Pacific.
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And now a documentary is currently in the works about Hairston to be called Amen – The Life and Work of Jester Hairston, which is being developed by The African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musician Program of California State University Dominguez Hills.
The film is being directed by Dr. Hansonia Caldwell, professor emeritus of Music and Africana Studies at California State University, and documentary filmmaker and editor Lillian Benson.

Jester Hairston Conducts Amen 

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