Avon Long

Avon Long (June 18, 1910 – February 15, 1984) was an American actor and singer whose Broadway career spanned four decades, from 1936 to 1976. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Long contracted typhoid fever at age two, and he later credited the disease with giving his feet the dense bone structure that supported his work as a dancer. He attended Frederick Douglass High School, where a Latin teacher and drama coach named Nellie A. Buchanan was a formative influence. In 1928, one credit short of graduating, Long chose to leave school rather than return for an additional year. By the late 1920s he had relocated from Boston to New York, where he began performing at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem.

Long's early professional work placed him at the center of Harlem's entertainment world. In 1933 he performed in a production of Hot Chocolates and was featured at the Cotton Club singing "Brown Boy." The following year, at the Cotton Club Parade of 1934, Long and a sixteen-year-old Lena Horne jointly introduced "As Long As I Live," a composition by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. His Broadway work during the 1940s included the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess, in which he played Sportin' Life, and Beggar's Holiday in 1946. A 1945 production of Carib Song drew a New York Times review noting that Long, described as a fine singer and dancer, was given only one strong number, "Woman Is a Rascal." Also in 1946, he appeared in the East Harlem Players' production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Long reprised his portrayal of Sportin' Life on the 1951 Columbia recording of Porgy and Bess, which was at the time the most complete recording of the opera ever released. The following year he appeared alongside Thelma Carpenter in the 1952 revival of Shuffle Along, a production documented in a recording by RCA Victor. On Broadway, Long also appeared in Mrs. Patterson and A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan, among other productions. Don't Play Us Cheap opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on May 16, 1972, and ran for 164 performances; Long was part of a cast that included Esther Rolle and Mabel King, and he subsequently recreated his stage role in the 1973 film adaptation alongside Thomas Anderson, Joshie Armstead, Robert Dunn, Jay Van Leer, George "Ooppee" McCurn, Frank Carey, Nate Barnett, and Rhetta Hughes. His work in that production earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1973.

Long originated the role of John in Bubbling Brown Sugar, which opened at the August Wilson Theatre — then known as the ANTA Playhouse — on March 2, 1976, and ran for 766 performances before closing on December 31, 1977. His screen work included a specialty number in the 1945 film Centennial Summer, a small role as Ezra in Trading Places (1983), an appearance in The Sting (1973), and a part in Harry and Tonto (1974). He played the elderly Chicken George Moore in the television miniseries Roots: The Next Generations. Long was originally cast as George Jefferson in All in the Family but was replaced following negative feedback from Carroll O'Connor.

At the time of his death, Long was married to Gretchen Cotton, with whom he had three daughters; his firstborn daughter died on March 4, 1980. Long died of cancer on February 15, 1984, at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center at the age of 73, survived by his wife, two daughters, three sons-in-law, and nine grandchildren.