Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee
A talented actor and pioneering civil rights activist, Lee died in 1952 at age 45—technically from uremia, but in the eyes of many, as investigative journalist and playwright Smith shows, from the stress of being blacklisted. Lee's career was extraordinary. Leaving home at 13 to become a racetrack jockey, he became a boxer, dabbled in music and was drawn into acting by the Depression-era Federal Theater Project. He was in Hollywood films, including Hitchcock'sLifeboat(1944) and Rossen'sBody and Soul(1947). Smith deftly depicts New York's theater scene, showing how Lee became one of the first African-Americans to gain acceptance in white theater, and thoroughly documents Lee's outspoken support for civil rights. Lee's speechmaking caught the attention of Cold War Red-baiters, and in 1949, he started hearing rumors he'd been blacklisted. While he did work in one final film—1951'sCry, the Beloved Country—the strain of not being able to work or support his family may have irritated his hypertension, leading to kidney failure. Smith's admiration for Lee—his artistry, his desegregation campaigns, his generosity toward the needy, his fellowship with other African-American artists—is so overwhelming that Lee emerges as a two-dimensional character. Still, students of African-American, theater and Cold War history will find this a valuable reference. 32 b&w illus. not seen byPW.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.