Leigh Whipper
American actorWikipedia
19
MENTIONS
13
EPISODES
13
PODCASTS
Search complete. 19 mentions across 13 episodes found for "Leigh Whipper".
Nov 5, 2026
Liani GreavesGUEST
Not to mention all the rest of the interviews.
Liani GreavesGUEST
So all the, the interviews of, you know, the full interview of Noble Sissel and of Lee Whipper and all those folks.
Brandon NorwoodHOST
There's more Lee Whipper.
Brandon NorwoodHOST
He's like,
Liani GreavesGUEST
well, he did that entire speech of the, the Hallie Selassie speech.
Barry JenkinsGUEST
So
Liani GreavesGUEST
when they're in the room, it's not, they are literally seeing someone, you know, Van Der Zee says, I haven't seen Lee Whipper since I shot him in the, I photographed him in the 1916s.
Liani GreavesGUEST
And then we
Barry JenkinsGUEST
see the image, which is such, such a simple,
Richard CrouseGUEST
He's 96 years old at the film.
Richard CrouseGUEST
His name is Lee Whipper, and he was the first black member of Actors' Equity.
Richard CrouseGUEST
And he recites from memory a poem bit of a speech that he did in 1943 in a film called Mission to Moscow, where he played Hailey Selassie.
Richard CrouseGUEST
And it's just magnetic.
John PowersCORRESPONDENT
Ida Mae Cullen frets that her late husband, the poet County Cullen, is being neglected.
John PowersCORRESPONDENT
Even as actor Lee Whipper, 96, talks about working in minstrel shows, the Elegant Society editor Jerry Major recalls being spat on by a white patron at the Cotton Club.
John PowersCORRESPONDENT
David Greaves and his editors give all this talk unobtrusively nifty themes and echoes.
John PowersCORRESPONDENT
For instance, Blake says that contrary to popular opinion, it's not true that he won't shake hands with a white man.
David GreavesGUEST
But now, on that tarmac in the moment, when Lindbergh would not shake Bill Robinson's hand, He shot out his hand.
David GreavesGUEST
The way Lee Whipper mimics that grip, you say, gee, that Jimmy Walker, he was a hell of a mayor.
David GreavesGUEST
If that's the only thing you know about him, that's all you need to know.
David GreavesGUEST
He said that he was a great guy.
David GreavesGUEST
Matter of fact, one of the editors has gotten a grant from Harvard, as a matter of fact.
David GreavesGUEST
And she's up there now going through the archives.
David GreavesGUEST
And we're going to have a search of our archives so that people can hear all of the, like, Lee Whipper's interviews and all of those interviews.
David GreavesGUEST
And I think I'm certain of it.
David GreavesGUEST
He shot out his hand.
David GreavesGUEST
The way Lee Whipper mimics that grip, you say, gee, that Jimmy Walker, he was a hell of a mayor.
David GreavesGUEST
If that's the only thing you know about him, that's all you need
Richard CrouseHOST
to know.
David GreavesGUEST
Absolutely.
David GreavesGUEST
Matter of fact, one of the editors has gotten a grant from Harvard, as a matter of fact, and she's up there now going through the archives.
David GreavesGUEST
And we're going to have a search of our archives so that people can hear all of the, like, Lee Whipper's interviews and all of those interviews.
David GreavesGUEST
And I think I'm certain of it.
David GreavesGUEST
And, um, so that was, um, uh, that was very interesting.
David GreavesGUEST
And that also, uh, you take Leigh Whipper, who his, um, mother was a doctor and his father was a lawyer.
David GreavesGUEST
That's about as middle class as you could get [laughs] in the Black community.
David GreavesGUEST
And they came down from, from, from, from the North and did that, um, if you will, um, uh, sort of challenging of the, uh, establishment down, down in, in the South.
David GreavesGUEST
He can't have all of him in the film, I mean.
David GreavesGUEST
And the same thing with Lee, Lee, Lee Whipper, when he does his Haile Selassie speech.
David GreavesGUEST
That's an incredible, uh, thing to look at, the entire, entire speech, because he, he does, he reads, reads it, and then r- he remembers it straight through, right through, straight through, yeah.
David GreavesGUEST
He does it in his accent.
Nichole HillHOST
I can think of one particular thing 'cause-
Liani GreavesGUEST
Well, Lee, Lee Whipper's, uh, speech
Nichole HillHOST
...
Nichole HillHOST
Lee Whipper, oh yes, Lee Whipper's speech at the United Nations.
Nichole HillHOST
Oh.
Nichole HillHOST
The Haile Selassie speech, 'cause he did that in one take.
David GreavesGUEST
And, um, you're moving through the, the three, three rooms, um, capturing c- conversations.
David GreavesGUEST
Uh, uh, my father would, um, direct us to, say, um, a conversation of Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee Ri- Riper talking with Eubie Blake.
David GreavesGUEST
You know, so you'd have, you'd see two, two cameras on that.
David GreavesGUEST
You'd see him, um, um, introducing, um, um, John, John, Hen- Henry Clark to, uh, Mr. Hardy from the U- UNIA.
17 MINS LATER
Kate WolfHOST
Mm-hmm.
Kate WolfHOST
Mm-hmm.
Eric NewmanHOST
I was really struck by, uh, Lee Whipper's, um, the portion of his interview in which he describes feeling very bluntly ignored-
David GreavesGUEST
Yeah
3 more episodes mention Leigh Whipper.
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