Background
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. His father abandoned the family shortly after Conley"s birth, leaving his actress mother to raise the three boys. Like his mother, Onest Conley gravitated toward the acting profession and began taking bit parts in films.
Career
He had two brothers. 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. 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 South. 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. Onest Conley died in Los Angeles, California, in 1989 at the age of 82.