Later Life
While Perry was the first black actor to become a millionaire, he was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1947, stating assets of $146 (equal to about $1,520 today).
Perry reportedly converted to Islam in the 1960s and became a friend of heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Perry also found himself in conflict during his career with civil rights leaders who criticized him personally for the film roles he portrayed. Nonetheless, in 1976 the Hollywood chapter of the NAACP awarded him a Special NAACP Image Award. Two years after that, Perry was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
In April 1969, Perry's son, Donald Lambright, traveled the Pennsylvania Turnpike shooting people. He injured 15 and killed 3 before turning the gun on himself.
Read more about this topic: Stepin Fetchit
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-in house, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive.”
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