Kenneth Spencer

Actor/singer Kenneth Spencer hoped to succeed Paul Robeson at some point as the leading artistic spokesman for the Black community in theater and music. A singer by training with a degree from the Eastman School of Music, Spencer made a major impression as a concert artist and on radio in California at the outset of the '40s, and in 1943 got major acting roles in two MGM films, Bataan and the acclaimed musical Cabin in the Sky. Unfortunately, Spencer didn't get the kind of career-defining roles or songs, such as Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones or Joe (and the signature song ...