Biography
Dynamic African American actor Moses Gunn was one of the founders of the Negro Ensemble Company. Educated at Tennessee State and the University of Kansas, Gunn made his first New York appearance in a 1961 production of Measure for Measure; he remained active on the off-Broadway scene throughout his career, winning several Obie awards. His 1962 Broadway debut came by way of
Jean Genet's The Blacks, which served to introduce many another powerful black acting talent of the era. In films from 1964's
Nothing But a Man, Gunn is best-remembered for his portrayal of gangster Bumpy Jonas in the first two
Shaft films, and for his brief but telling cameo as Booker T. Washington in
Ragtime, a performance which won him an NAACP Image award. On series television, Gunn was top-billed as Jebediah Nightlinger in
The Cowboys (1972), played boxing trainer George Beifus in
The Contender (1980), was featured as miner Moses Gage in
Father Murphy (1981-84) and chewed the scenery as the epigrammatical "Old Man" in A Man Called Hawk (1989). He also played Carl Dixon, the man who married Florida Evans (${Esther Rolle) after a whirlwind courtship during the 1976-77 season of
Good Times. In 1977, Moses Gunn received an Emmy nomination for his appearance as tribal chieftain Kintango in the ground-breaking miniseries
Roots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide