ABSTRACT
Canada Lee (Lionel Corneliou Canegata) was born in New York City and was educated in the public schools of that city. His first occupation, at the age of fourteen, was that of a race horse jockey; later he became a prize fighter and won the Metropolitan Inter-City and Junior National Championships (popularly known as the Golden Gloves). For a brief period he organized a band, and he expressed an early interest in the theatre. Because of his inability to make a living in the theatre, he became a stevedore at the age of twenty-eight, alternately returning to the stage to play many significant roles. The first role to attract attention was in Orson Welles’ production of Macbeth. Later he played Christophe in Haiti and the feature role of Drayton in Mamba’s Daughter. He also played Bigger Thomas in Orson Welles’ production of Native Son, Danny in Anna Lucasta, and Caliban in The Tempest. He was selected for the principal role in the motion picture version of Alan Peyton’s Cry the Beloved Country which was produced in Africa.
