Ben Carter (February 10, 1910/1907 – December 12, 1946) was an American actor and casting agent. He appeared in numerous Hollywood feature films including The Harvey Girls, Tin Pan Alley, Crash Dive, Born to Sing, and Dixie Jamboree.
Early life Carter was born in Fairfield, Iowa. His father was a barber and his mother was a housemaid. He graduated from high school in Aurora, Illinois.
Career Carter headed to Los Angeles to work in movies. As a booking agent he focused on African American performers in New York City and Los Angeles. He was one of the first African American performers to land a seven-year contract at 20th Century-Fox. He opened his agency office in 1935.
Carter appeared in Gone With the Wind (1939) as well as casting all the other African American actors and actresses in it, Maryland (1940) and Tin Pan Alley (1940). Carter often performed in comic roles and in scenes which allowed him to display his singing ability such as in The Harvey Girls (1946) and A Day at the Races (1937). A notable role of his was in the World War II movie Crash Dive (1943) where his character rises above racial stereotypes and is portrayed as a valuable member of a submarine's crew.
Comedy team Ben Carter teamed with the African American comedian Mantan Moreland, and perfected an "incomplete sentence" act, where they conducted entire conversations while speaking only in fragments:
MORELAND: I saw old --
CARTER: Is he still out there?
MORELAND: Yeah.
CARTER: I thought he was --
MORELAND: He was, but he got out.
CARTER: You know what I heard?
MORELAND: Not until Christmas!
CARTER: No?
MORELAND: I never did believe --
CARTER: I don't believe anything he says, either.
They performed this routine in two Charlie Chan pictures, The Scarlet Clue and Dark Alibi, and in the musical comedy Bowery to Broadway. Carter and Moreland were so popular that they embarked on a personal-appearance tour in 1946.
Personal life Carter was a member of the Hollywood Victory Committee and was a civil rights activist.
He resided at 2133 S. Harvard Blvd. in West Adams, Los Angeles, California, in 1942.
Carter suffered from diphtheria. He died of the disease on December 12, 1946, in New York City.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1934 Hollywood Party Elevator Operator Uncredited1935 Transient Lady Barbershop Patron Uncredited1935 Kentucky Blue Streak Waiter / Colored Octette Leader 1936 The Green Pastures Gambler Uncredited1936 Missing Girls Pokey 1937 A Day at the Races Black Singer Uncredited1937 Adventure's End Stantul, Black Sailor 1938 Having Wonderful Time Minor Role (scenes deleted)1939 Gone With the Wind Uncredited1940 Little Old New York Noah 1940 Safari Happy 1940 New Moon Singer - Member of Jericho Choir Uncredited1940 Maryland Shadrach 1940 Carolina Moon Wheeler's Butler Uncredited1940 South to Karanga Higgins 1940 Earl of Puddlestone Homer 1940 Tin Pan Alley Boy 1940 Chad Hanna Bell Boy 1941 Sleepers West Leander Jones - Porter 1941 Ride on Vaquero Watchman Bullfinch 1941 Dressed to Kill Sam 1942 Young America Abraham 1942 Born to Sing 'Eight-Ball' 1942 Reap the Wild Wind Chinkapin 1942 Her Cardboard Lover Elevator Operator Uncredited1942 Daring Young Man Pinky 1943 Happy Go Lucky Joe Brown Uncredited1943 Crash Dive Oliver Cromwell Jones 1943 Redhead from Manhattan Mark Anthony Brown Uncredited1943 Mister Big Ben Carter - Choir Leader 1944 This Is the Life Himself 1944 Stars on Parade Ben Carter Choir Leader 1944 Dixie Jamboree Sam the Deckhand 1944 Bowery to Broadway No-More 1945 The Scarlet Clue Ben Carter 1945 The Great John L. Thaddeus Uncredited1945 Lady on a Train Maxwell 1945 She Went to the Races Groom Uncredited1946 The Harvey Girls John Henry 1946 Riverboat Rhythm Benjamin 1946 Dark Alibi Benjamin Brown
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