Biography
Leigh Rollin Whipper (29 October 1876 – 26 July 1975) was an American actor who worked in theatre and motion pictures. He was the first African American member of the Actors' Equity Association and a founder of the Negro Actors Guild of America. He created the role of Crooks in the original 1937 Broadway production of Of Mice and Men and reprised it in the 1939 film adaptation.
Whipper was educated at Howard University Law School, which he left in 1895 without practising law. He made his stage debut in 1899 in a Philadelphia production of Uncle Tom's Cabin and his first Broadway appearance in Georgia Minstrels. His earliest film roles were in the 1920 silent films Within Our Gates and The Symbol of the Unconquered. Other screen credits include King of the Zombies (1941) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). He died in New York City.
