Benjamin Carter (1910?-46) was an actor and singer who also established Hollywood’s first booking agency specifically for African-American performers, and secured for himself a rare (for Black actors) long-term contract with a major studio.
Carter made his debut in the MGM musical Hollywood Party, and went on to appear in almost forty pictures. He was in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which he also organized all of the Black performers apart from those in prominent roles.
Carter’s most significant part was in Crash Dive (1943), in which he was able to give a dignified performance alongside Tyrone Power, as a member of the submarine crew.
He also acted in four additional MGM musicals: A Day at the Races (where he was able to display his singing ability), New Moon, Born to Sing and The Harvey Girls. He was credited in the last two.
Carter also worked in vaudeville as straight man to the comedian Mantan Moreland, appearing with him in three pictures.
Ben Carter died young as a result of diphtheria.
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