Did You Know? (Part I)

I hate to admit that I've gone most of my life thinking that the guy who played Blacula in two blaxploitation films--Blacula (1972) and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973)--was most likely some down-on-his-luck brother who took on the role of the black bloodsucker for an embarrassing paltry paycheck. Though I've often scoffed at the Blacula character, I was dead wrong to mock the man behind the widow's peak! Did you know . . .

1.) William Marshall, the man who played Blacula, grew up the son of a dentist, attending New York University before training at the Actors Studio.

2.) He was Hollywood Horror Legend Boris Karloff's understudy in the 1950 Broadway production of Peter Pan for the role of Captain Hook.

3.) He also starred in a vast number of Shakespearean productions in the U.S. and abroad, playing the title role of Othello numerous times.

4.) On tv, he made his way into episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, Rawhide, Ben Casey, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, The Wild Wild West, Mannix, The Jeffersons, and Benson.

5.) On the silver screen, he acted in Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Victor Mature), The Boston Strangler, and Maverick.

5.) He assumed the role of the King of Cartoons on tv's Pee-wee's Playhouse, delivering that indelible line: "Let . . . the cartoon . . . begin!"

6.) He taught acting at the University of California, Irvine.

7.) He succumbed to Alzheimer's and diabetes on June 11, 2003, and some of the eulogies spoken at Marshall's funeral were delivered by heavy hitting actors such as Sidney Poitier, Paul Winfield, Ivan Dixon and Marla Gibbs.