Charles Lampkin

Charles Lampkin (March 17, 1913 – April 17, 1989) was an American actor, musician and lecturer.

Early life

Charles Lampkin was born in Ward 4 of Montgomery, Alabama. He was the third son of Edgar Lampkin and Sarah Bidell. His paternal lineage is traced to British slave-owners and his maternal ancestors were Africans enslaved in the British colonies of Virginia and Georgia before the American Revolution of 1776. His great-grandmother Ann Lampkin, an emancipated slave, was one of the first people to befriend a twenty-five-year-old Booker T. Washington when he arrived in Alabama in 1881. She secured land and along with her church sisters raised funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Edgar Lampkin moved his family from Montgomery to Cleveland in the 1920s, part of the Great Migration.

Career

Lampkin was a pioneer of Spoken Word in the 1930s and winner of Ohio debating cups in 1939, 1940 and 1941. In Arch Oboler's Five, the first science fiction film about a nuclear holocaust, Lampkin introduced Oboler to The Creation by James Weldon Johnson and convinced him to include excerpts of it in the script of Five. It would become Lampkin's soliloquy and may be the first time that wide audiences in the United States, Latin America and Europe were exposed to African-American poetry, albeit not identified as such.

Charles Lampkin served as music director of the American Peoples' Chorus from 1943 to 1945. On June 26, 1944, he conducted Paul Robeson and the APC at the historic Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden. Uta Hagen and Cardinal Spellman were in attendance.

He composed a piano concerto in G minor before 1955 and in 1969 was appointed Artist-in-residence, Professor of Music and Theatre Arts, at Santa Clara University until 1981.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1979 for his performance in the ABC after-school special Home Run for Love, which aired on national television in the United States in October, 1978 and was re-broadcast in April, 1980.

In 1979 Lampkin played Professor Loman in Alex Haley's Roots: The Next Generations.

In the 1960s and 1970s Lampkin was a pioneer of multi-cultural pedagogy in California.

Lecture-recitations

In his college classes, Charles Lampkin divided original African-American music into four parts: Spirituals, the Shout Song, the Work Song and the Blues.

Charles Lampkin's performances of the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance set to music he composed were recorded in 1957 for the National Association of English Teachers. The records were distributed to thousands of schools across the United States. The original recording are available at the Charles Lampkin Foundation web site.

The centerpiece of the Charles Lampkin lecture platform was the Black American classic (whose status he helped secure) The Creation from the imaginative sermon series of James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones.

Academia

In January 1969, Lampkin joined the College of Humanities faculty at the University of Santa Clara as an artist-in-residence, teaching a course in beginning acting and another one in ethnic music (until his retirement in 1981). He was also a lecturer at the University of the Pacific (Black Studies Program).

Charles Lampkin Foundation

In 2011, Charles Lampkin's grandson Daniel Bruno created the Charles Lampkin Foundation as a non-profit that aims to counter anti-Intellectualism and the degrading effects of contemporary culture via awareness of the Harlem Renaissance. The foundation produced a series of videos which utilize Charles Lampkin's 1957 narration combined with relevant historical figures. A two-hour documentary Dreams From My Grandfather combines a movie review of Arch Oboler's Five along with rare historical footage of World War II and the nuclear arms race. With a music score including Sibelius, Holst, Vaughn Williams, Mahler and Bing Crosby, Daniel Bruno's narration includes geopolitical analysis of Japan's motives for siding with the Axis powers and Roosevelt's foreknowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Outstanding renditions of Negro spirituals by Paul Robeson are heard throughout and in a final twist of irony, the documentary closes with the 10,000 strong Osaka volunteer choir performing Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" in 2009.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1951FiveCharlesFilm1961 Surfside 6Monsieur ServatTV series1962 Rider on a Dead HorseTaylorFilm1962 The Law and Mr. JonesHeadwaiter / Tom Redford / Hecktel, The Storyville GangTV series1962 Saints and SinnersHayes / Mr. HowardTV series1963 Alcoa PremiereZimmyTV series1963 The UntouchablesHal TempleTV series1963 Toys in the AtticGus, HandymanFilm, Uncredited1963Twilight of HonorMr. Simmons Film, Uncredited1963 Mr. NovakRobert DesmondTV series1963 Dr. KildareEddie, CustodianTV series1964 One Man's WayLafeFilm1965 Please Don't Eat the DaisiesMr. BriggsTV series1962-1965 Ben CaseySamTV series1966 The Rare BreedPorterFilm, Uncredited1965-1966 The Long, Hot SummerAndrewTV series1967 Run for Your LifeDr. Herbert GarrisonTV series1967 TarzanMatumbaTV series1967Accidental FamilyCharlieTV series1967 Cowboy in AfricaDr. MerarTV series1968 The Wild Wild WestClerkTV series1968 Journey to ShilohEdward Film, Uncredited1968 The Thomas Crown AffairElevator OperatorFilm, Uncredited1968 It Takes a ThiefGardener / Professor KilghiTV series1968-1969 JuliaCharley / ElectricianTV series1969 The OutsiderRichardTV series1969 The Bold Ones: The ProtectorsCouncilmanTV series1969 Marcus Welby, M.D.Mr. MurtreeTV series1969 Hello, Dolly!Laborer Film, Uncredited1968-1970 Mayberry R.F.D.Ralph BartonTV series1970 The Name of the GameRubanoTV series1970 Watermelon ManDr. CatlinFilm1970 Barefoot in the ParkTV series1967-1970 That GirlJanitor / Mr. HansenTV series1969-1970 The Bold Ones: The LawyersBarber / Ralph MillerTV series1970 The Most Deadly GameGriggsTV series1970 BreakoutCookTV movie1970 IronsideTruck DriverTV series1971 Family AffairSuperintendentTV series1971 The Partridge FamilyHeavyTV series1971 The Bill Cosby ShowHarold MorganTV series1971 The Bold Ones: The SenatorClerkTV series1971 The InternsJudge DavidsonTV series1964-1971 My Three SonsHarry West / Herman / MailmanTV series1972 The Bold Ones: The New DoctorsMailmanTV series1972 JigsawTV movie1972 The ManCongressman WaldingFilm1972HammerBig SidFilm1972 The Odd CoupleBrother LowellFilm1972 McMillan & WifeJudge Clement WilliamsTV series1972 The Delphi BureauJason ThomasTV series1973 Emergency!Airport EmployeeTV series1973 The Streets of San FranciscoBenjy HoskinsTV series1969-1973 The F.B.I.Hargroves / The BrokerTV series1973 Love StoryFatherTV series1974 The Black GodfatherDanny's FatherFilm1974 That's My MamaWill HarringtonTV series1974 HurricaneWyn StokeyTV movie1974 The LawJudge Rathman - Melendez TrialTV movie1974 Panic on the 5:22George LincolnTV movie1974 The RookiesSam ReeseTV series1971-1975 Adam-12Henry Ward / Johnson / Myron BradleyTV series1975 Wide World MysteryTV series1975 Cornbread, Earl and MeFred JenkinsFilm1976 Special DeliveryMailmanFilm1976 Gemini ManPop KingstonTV series1977 Islands in the StreamConstableFilm1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House YearsIrvin McDuffieTV movie1977 The Sanford ArmsWalter CalvinTV series1978 The Incredible HulkJoeTV series1978 ABC Afterschool SpecialsDavy HendersonTV series1979 Roots: The Next GenerationsLomanTV mini-series1979 FriendsTug SummerfieldTV series1980 House CallsTV series1975-1980 Barnaby JonesBenny / Mort RogersTV series1981 Quincy M.E.Dr. JamisonTV series1981 S.O.B.ButlerFilm1981 First Monday in OctoberJustice Josiah ClewesFilm1982 Father MurphyTV series1982 Too Close for ComfortMr. ChristmasTV series1983 Second ThoughtsJudge RichardsFilm1983 Bare EssenceTV series1984 Last of the Great SurvivorsElroyTV movie1984 Scarecrow and Mrs. KingMr. FellerTV series1984 The JeffersonsOtisTV series1984 Highway to HeavenDocTV series1984 Ghost WarriorWillie WalshFilm1985 HunterJudgeU.S. TV Series1985 Street HawkArtie ShankTV series1985 CocoonPopsFilm1985 Night CourtGrampa RobinsonTV series1986 He's the MayorEzraTV series1987 WebsterSamTV series1987 227FelixTV series1987 The Last Innocent ManJudge Clement AutleyTV movie1987-1988Frank's PlaceTiger ShepinTV series, (final appearance)

References

External links