Editing Adolph Caesar (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
Caesar made his film debut in 1969 in ''[[Che!]]'', playing Cuban revolutionary [[Juan Almeida Bosque]]. A year later, Caesar became an announcer for and then joined the [[Negro Ensemble Company]] in 1970 for productions such as ''[[The River Niger]]'', ''Square Root of the Soul'', and ''The Brownsville Raid''. Caesar also later worked with the Minnesota Theater Company, Inner City Repertory Company, and the [[American Shakespeare Theatre]]. He had a stint on the soap operas ''[[Guiding Light]]'' and ''[[General Hospital]]'' in 1964 and 1969, respectively.

Thanks to his voice, Caesar found frequent work as a voice-over artist for television and radio commercials, including theatrical previews and radio commercials for many [[blaxploitation]] films such as ''[[Cleopatra Jones]]'', ''[[Super Fly (1972 film)|Superfly]]'', ''[[Truck Turner]]'' and ''[[The Spook Who Sat by the Door (film)|The Spook Who Sat by the Door]]''. For many years, he was the voice of the [[United Negro College Fund]]'s publicity campaign, reciting the iconic slogan "...because a mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Later in his career, Caesar also lent his voice to the animated series ''[[Silverhawks]]'', in which he voiced Hotwing, a magician and skilled illusionist.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

In 1980, Caesar appeared in the infamous [[Bruceploitation]] mockumentary ''[[Fist of Fear, Touch of Death]],'' playing himself as a fictional television news reporter investigating the death of [[Bruce Lee]].

===''A Soldier's Play''===
Caesar’s most iconic work started with his role as US Army Sergeant Vernon C. Waters in [[Charles Fuller]]'s [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning stage drama, ''[[A Soldier's Play]]'', for which Caesar won [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play]] and an [[Obie Award|Obie Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement]]. ''A Soldier’s Play'' is set in [[Louisiana]] during [[World War II]]. Sgt. Waters is an ambitious Black [[drill sergeant]] who strives for recognition for African-American soldiers while detesting "[[Gullah Geechee|Geechees]]", as he terms [[Uncle Tom|uneducated, subservient, and unintelligent southern Blacks]], as an obstacle to [[racial equality]] and the success of the future [[African American upper class]], and who need to be removed at all costs. The play and film are a [[murder mystery]] that unfolds in flashbacks, as a Black JAG Captain investigates Sgt. Waters' murder at the beginning of the play and which the Captain eventually reveals to have been a [[fragging]] by one of Waters' own men.

In a 1985 interview with the [[Los Angeles Times]], Caesar stated, while crafting the character of Waters, he drew on his experiences with [[racism]] in [[Classical theatre]], "I’d studied [[Shakespeare]] to death. I knew more about Shakespeare than Shakespeare knew about himself. After I did one season at a Shakespearean repertory company, a director said to me, ‘You have a marvelous voice. You know the king’s English well. You speak [[iambic pentameter]]. My suggestion is that you go to New York and get a good colored role.' Waters has tried his best, but no matter what you do, they still hate you." Caesar subsequently coined the character's signature phrase, "They still hate you".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Little|first=Dylan K.|title=Adolph Caesar: The Iconic Actor With The Iconic Voice|url=https://amandlajournal.com/999/reviews/adolph-caesar-the-iconic-actor-with-the-iconic-voice/|access-date=2020-10-26|website=Amandla!}}</ref>

Caesar subsequently reprised his role as Waters in [[Norman Jewison]]'s 1984 film adaptation of Fuller's play, retitled ''[[A Soldier's Story]].'' His performance was acclaimed and earned him numerous accolades, including [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] and [[Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Award]] nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and an [[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture]]. He also won the [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor]].

===Later career===
On the basis of his ''Soldier's Story'' success, Caesar was cast in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s [[The Color Purple (1985 film)|''The Color Purple'']] as Old Mister Johnson, the father of [[Danny Glover]]'s character. He also appeared on an episode of [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|''The Twilight Zone'']] and an ''[[ABC Afterschool Special]]''. Caesar's last completed film was ''[[Club Paradise]],'' released posthumously.