Donald Bogle is an American writer, editor, and historian. He is the author of "Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography," "Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks," "Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars," and "Blacks in American films and television."
Background
Donald Bogle was born on July 13, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From a prominent family, Donald raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. His father, John Bogle, was a longtime executive with the "Philadelphia Tribune," and his mother, Roslyn Woods Bogle, was an area activist. Donald Bogle, like many American children of the 1960s, spent much of his leisure time going to the movies or, as he says in the introduction to his book "Prime Time Blues: African Americans on Network Television," "plopped in front of the TV set."
Education
Donald Bogle studied at Lincoln University. He got there a Bachelor of Arts in 1966. Upon graduation, Donald pursued graduate studies at Indiana University and Columbia University.
Career
Donald Bogle's interest in movies and television led him to a career as a writer and a film historian.
While a student, Donald served as a story editor for the legendary director, Otto Preminger. From 1969 to 1973, he worked for "Ebony" magazine as a reporter and assistant editor.
In 1973, Donald published his first book, "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films," which takes a comprehensive look at blacks in American films from the silent-movie era. He places his commentary within the appropriate cultural and social context of the times, and he also provides information on the performers' lives. Throughout the book, Donald discusses the stereotypes that black actors have been forced to play, noting that, even given these stereotypes, these films provided black actors with the opportunity for work.
Then Donald Bogle went on to complete several other literary works, including "Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars," chronicles the lives and works of numerous legendary black female entertainers. He adapted this book into a four-part documentary series for Public Broadcasting Service.
In "Blacks in American Films and Television: An Encyclopedia," Donald Bogle provides critical interpretations of more than 260 films and more than 100 television shows, including commentary on how black characters have evolved since the advent of television. He also presents numerous biographical profiles of black actors, actresses, and film directors. As a reference book, "Blacks in American Films and Television" includes a substantial index and bibliography.
For his book "Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography," Donald Bogle spent several years interviewing family, friends, and associates of the actress, whose success in Hollywood was short-lived and ultimately led to tragedy. The book includes many reminiscences of black entertainers such as Diahann Carroll, Sammy Davis Jr., and Bobby Short. Donald recounts how Dandridge rose through the ranks of the entertainment industry, stalling out as a child performer and singer in church, vaudeville, and on the "chitlin' circuit," small black nightclubs and "honky tonks" located primarily in the south.
Dorothy Dandridge began making cameos in mainstream Hollywood movies, like the Marx Brothers film, "A Day at the Races." Then she starred in two low-budget "race movies," films produced by black-owned independent film companies.
Besides, Dorothy Dandridge was an Oscar-nominated for her role in the film, "Carmen Jones," by director Otto Preminger.
Donald Bogle returned to his childhood love of television in his book "Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television." This comprehensive history of blacks working on network television series begins with the early days of television following World War II through the 1990s. He traces the stereotypes that blacks were forced to play on such shows as "Beulah." In that show, famed black entertainer Ethel Waters played a loyal and not-too-bright maid to a white family, and the infamous Amos'n'Andy, which perhaps epitomized what Donald calls "parts that were shameless, dishonest travesties of African American life and culture." Nevertheless, many of the performers were able to present portrayals in ways that allowed the black community to identify with them. Although blacks gained more prominence on network television in the seventies, Donald points out that ethnic comedies like "Sanford and Son" and "Good Times" also presented blacks in a less-than-stellar light. He also analyzes such popular shows in the 1980s at "The Cosby Show" and explores the black-white buddy relationship in programs like "Miami Vice."
Also, Donald Bogle's works include "Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood," and "Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters."
Donald has written articles for "Film Comment," "Spin," "Essence," "Elan," "University Review," and "Freedomways." He has also appeared on such television programs as "The Today Show," "Good Morning American," "Charley Rose," "Tavis Smiley," "Entertainment Tonight," and others.
Besides, Donald Bogle has taught at Rutgers University, Lincoln University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He has lectured at universities and museums around the country and abroad.
Views
As a black American, Donald Bogle was especially drawn to performances by black actors and began pondering the types of characters they played, sensing that fundamental racism was at work in their stereotypical roles.
Quotations:
"The film is a powerful medium. We learn a lot from movies. We go to the movies to be entertained. But the messages and images of what we see in the movies stay with us. It was important to think about what we are given up there on the screen. Movies can be manipulated. We often are getting a distorted view of black people's lives."
"Even as a kid, I often found myself asking all sorts of questions about what I was seeing and enjoying."