---
name: "Leigh Whipper"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/leigh-whipper"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "29 October 1876"
died: "26 July 1975"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T01:02:14.968649+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Leigh Whipper

Actor. Born 29 October 1876 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Died 26 July 1975.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 29 October 1876, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
- **Died:** 26 July 1975
- **Also known as:** Lee Whipper 
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 other
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 84 (1), 1940s 84 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Whipper, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1815058, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924181/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/130217

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Of Mice and Men*](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## 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.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these

- *Of Mice and Men* (1939), Fi1m 84, as Crooks — [page](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), Fi1m 84, as Sparks (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md)

## Complete filmography (22)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Young Don't Cry* (1957), as Doosy
- *The Shrike* (1955), as Mr. Carlisle
- *Untamed Fury* (1947), as Uncle Gabe
- *Undercurrent* (1946), as George
- *Young Widow* (1946), as Nate (Uncredited), Nate (uncredited)
- *The Negro Sailor* (1945), as Editor
- *The Hidden Eye* (1945), as Alistair
- *Dark Waters* (1944), as Office Custodian (uncredited)
- *Happy Land* (1943), as Old Ben (uncredited)
- *Mission to Moscow* (1943), as Haile Selassie (uncredited)
- *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), as Sparks (uncredited) — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md)
- *White Cargo* (1942), as Jim Fish
- *Heart of the Golden West* (1942), as Rango
- *The Vanishing Virginian* (1942), as Uncle Josh
- *Bahama Passage* (1941), as Morales
- *King of the Zombies* (1941), as Momba
- *Road to Zanzibar* (1941), as Scarface
- *Virginia* (1941), as Ezechial
- *Robin Hood of the Pecos* (1941), as Kezeye
- *Of Mice and Men* (1939), as Crooks — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md)
- *The Symbol of the Unconquered: A Story of the Ku Klux Klan* (1920), as Tugi - an Indian Fakir
- *Within Our Gates* (1920), Actor

## Gallery

- ![Photograph of Leigh Whipper as The Crab Man in the original Broadway production of Porgy (1927) (1930)](https://film.one/media/person/1231336/gallery-8f5b100f6478.jpg) Photograph of Leigh Whipper as The Crab Man in the original Broadway production of Porgy (1927) (1930) — Florence Vandamm, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Porgy-Leigh-Whipper.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Leigh Whipper](https://film.one/media/person/1231336/gallery-3716457b7a8a.jpg) Leigh Whipper — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/leigh-whipper