Born
Jack Chowder in Miami on November
15th 1939, Thalmus
Rasulala was a superb actor. He
holds a place forever in my heart
for his portrayal of Dr. Gordon
Thomas in Blacula
(1972) that successfully mixed
the horror and blaxploitation
markets. In this classic flick
interior decorators (the gays ya
know!) transport the coffin of a
long dead African prince
(Mamuwalde, who unknown to them
was bitten by a vampire) back to
the modern day (or at least early
70s) Watts section of Los
Angeles. Before you can say,
Awaken Blacula
(Shakespearean actor William
Marshall who was also the King of
Cartoons on PeeWees
Playhouse!) does just that and
begins his bloody guzzle-fest.
Soon he encounters the woman who
is also the reincarnation of his
dead wife Tuva (the gorgeous
Vonetta McGee). Hero Thalmus
plays the Van Helsing
part in the movie. Hes the
guy with the big
(ahem)
stake
who takes out Blacula
at least until the sequel
Scream
Blacula Scream
came out the next year. Denise
Nicholas is also in this one. The
music is awesome Barry
White did the Blacula
theme and theres even an
appearance (2 songs!) by The Hues
Corporation (Rock the Boat).
Thalmus
Rasulala was all over the place
as an actor. He won a Theatre
World Award (as Jack Chowder)
during the 1967-68 Broadway
season for Pearl Baileys
all black rendition of Hello
Dolly! Lotsa
movies and TV roles followed. He
was big in 70s actioners like
Friday Foster
and Bucktown
(both with Pam Grier). He was
Omro (Kunta Kintes father)
in the Roots
miniseries. He was Dr. Alvarez in
the delicious 1977 TV Movie
Killer On Board
with a deadly (overacting must be
a symptom!) virus on a cruise
ship infecting an all-star cast
which included Patty Duke, George
Hamilton, Jane Seymour, Frank
Converse, Claude Akins, Beatrice
Straight, and Susan Howard.
Egads! Other big roles include
The Autobiography
of Miss Jane Pittman,
The Defiant Ones
the 1986 TV-remake, Cool
Breeze, Willie
Dynamite, Cornbread
Earl and Me,
The Bermuda
Triangle (kind of
cool 1979 TV-Movie), The
Last Hard Men,
The Preppie Murder,
The Sophisticated
Gents, Adios
Amigo, Mr.
Ricco (with Dean
Martin!), The Boss
Wife, Lambada
(The forbidden dance!), The
Jerk Too, and The
Presidents Mistress.
He played Bill Thomas (Mabel Kings
ex) on several episodes of Whats
Happening? He was
the police commissioner in New
Jack City, and
played Jack Chowder (a character
with his real name!) in the
Steven Segals Above
the Law (1988).
Trekkies probably recognize him
as Capt. Donald Varley on the
Contagion
episode of The Next
Generation. His
final film role was as General
Afir in Mom and Dad
Save the World
that was released posthumously.
He was also
a special guest on the episode of
Saturday Night Live
featuring guest star Richard
Pryor. Supposedly one of the
conditions of Pryor hosting was
to have Thalmus appear on the
show. The pair do a great Exorcist
parody with Thalmus as Father
Merrin and Pryor as Father
Karras. The priests have some
intense discipline to dole out
for Regan (Laraine Newman) when
she starts bad mouthing their
mammas.
This
wonderful actor left behind a
great body of film and TV work
when died of a massive heart
attack in Albuquerque NM on
October 9th 1991. He
was only 52. He was survived by
his wife Sherilyn and four
children. |