Occupation Film actor Siblings Odel Conley Role Film actor | Name Onest Conley Years active 1926-1955 | |
Died October 8, 1989, Los Angeles County, California, United States Movies Grand Old Girl, Racing Luck Parents Robert Reed Conley, Madame Sul-Te-Wan Grandparents Cleo De Londa, Silas Crawford People also search for Madame Sul-Te-Wan, Odel Conley, Silas Crawford, Cleo De Londa, Charles Kerr, John S. Robertson | ||
Onest Conley (December 6, 1906 – October 8, 1989) was an American film actor.
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Early life
Born in Evanston, Illinois, his mother was the pioneering African-American film actress Madame Sul-Te-Wan (née Nellie Crawford) and his father was Robert Reed Conley. He had two brothers; Odel and Otto. His father abandoned the family shortly after Conley's birth, leaving his actress mother to raise the three boys.
Career
Like his mother, Onest Conley gravitated toward the acting profession and began taking bit parts in films. His first film appearance was a minor role in the 1926 Frank Borzage-directed The Dixie Merchant, a film adaptation of the Barry Benefield novel The Chicken-Wagon Family. The film starred Jack Mulhall and Madge Bellamy.
Despite limitations for African-American actors within the film industry during the 1920s and 1930s, Onest Conley appeared in a number of films during the era, albeit often typecast in stereotypical roles as "natives" and "shoeshine boys." Conley would appear alongside his brother Odel Conley as "warriors" in the 1933 box-office hit King Kong. Their mother would also appear in the film in an uncredited role as a "native haindmaiden." Conley would also appear alongside his mother in the 1930 Richard Thorpe-directed film The Thoroughbred.
A few of his most recognizable roles were as George Harris in the 1933 Cecil B. DeMille-directed crime-drama This Day and Age, as Neptune in the 1935 John S. Robertson-directed romantic drama Grand Old Girl and as Mose in the 1935 Sam Newfield-directed adventure film Racing Luck.
By the early 1940s, however, Conley's career largely faltered and he received fewer and fewer roles. His last appearance as an actor was on an episode the 1950s television series Soldiers of Fortune as a "voodoo drummer."
Death
Onest Conley died in Los Angeles, California, in 1989 at the age of 82.