'Roads to Racial Segregation: Atlanta in the Twentieth Century'.

^ In a 15 October 1946 article in the Atlanta Constitution, columnist Harold Martin noted that to bring Baskett to Atlanta, where he would not have been allowed to participate in any of the festivities, 'would cause him many embarrassments, for his feelings are the same as any man's.' The modern claim that no Atlanta hotel would give Baskett accommodation is false: there were several black-owned hotels in Atlanta at the time, including the Savoy and the McKay.

That image was what the American public was seeing and accepting as the norm for African Americans.' Jim Korkis, 'The Sad Song of the South', USA Today (accessed 24 August 2013) African American performers often portrayed comic roles where their characters were described as lazy, slow-witted, easily scared or flustered, subservient and worse.

^ As Jim Korkis notes, 'Song of the South came out in 1946 and there was no balance of media images.

^ 'Movies till Dawn: Almost Weirder Than Now'.

^ a b 'Harlem Is Heaven', Variety (New York, N.Y.), June 7, 1932, page 20.

He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. He was survived by his wife Margaret and his mother Elizabeth. On July 9, 1948, during the show's summer hiatus, James Baskett died at his home of heart failure resulting from diabetes at age 44. His health continued to decline, and he was often unable to attend the Amos 'n' Andy radio show he was on, missing almost half of the 1947–1948 season. Illness and death īaskett had been in poor health during the filming of Song of the South due to diabetes and he suffered a heart attack in December 1946 shortly after its release. Additionally, Baskett was the last adult actor to receive an Honorary Oscar for a single performance. He was the first African-American male actor to earn an Academy Award. On March 20, 1948, Baskett received an Academy Honorary Award for his performance as Uncle Remus. Baskett himself publicly defended the film and his character in it, saying ' 'I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension, than can ever possibly come out of the Song of the South.' Academy Honorary Award Īlthough Baskett was occasionally criticized for accepting such a 'demeaning' role (most of his acting credits were that of African-American stereotypes), his acting was almost universally praised, and columnist Hedda Hopper, along with Walt Disney, was one of the many journalists and personalities who declared that he should receive an Academy Award for his work. īaskett was prohibited from attending the film's premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, because Atlanta was racially segregated by law. This was one of the first Hollywood portrayals of a black actor as a non-comic character in a leading role in a film meant for general audiences. Baskett was also given the voice role of Brer Fox, one of the film's animated antagonists, and also filled in as the main animated protagonist, Brer Rabbit, in one sequence. Walt Disney was impressed with Baskett's talent and hired him on the spot for the lead role of Uncle Remus. In 1945, he auditioned for a bit part voicing one of the animals in the new Disney feature film Song of the South (1946), based on the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris.

From 1944 until 1948, he was part of the cast of the Amos 'n' Andy Show live radio program as lawyer Gabby Gibson. In 1941 he voiced Fats Crow in the animated Disney film Dumbo, and he also had bit parts in several B movies, including that of Lazarus in Revenge of the Zombies (1943), a porter in The Heavenly Body (1944), and native tribal leader Orbon in Jungle Queen (1945). He later moved to Los Angeles, California, and had a supporting role in the film Straight to Heaven (1939), starring Nina Mae McKinney. Using the name Jimmie Baskette, he appeared with Louis Armstrong on Broadway in the 1929 black musical revue Hot Chocolates and in several all-black New York films, including Harlem is Heaven (1932). He first moved to New York City, New York, where he joined up with Bill 'Mr. īaskett studied pharmacology as a young man but gave it up to pursue an acting career. Career Baskett in Harlem Is Heaven (1932), in which Variety described his portrayal of 'Money' Johnson as 'very impressive'.

In recognition of his portrayal of Remus, he was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1948, making him the first Black male performer to receive an Oscar. James Franklin Baskett (Febru– July 9, 1948) was an American actor who portrayed Uncle Remus, singing the song ' Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' in the 1946 Disney feature film Song of the South.

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