Kador Ben-Salim (Russian: Кадор Бен-Салим) was a Senegalese-Soviet acrobat, Red Army soldier and most likely the only actor of African descent in Soviet film throughout the 1920s and early 1930s.[1] A veteran of the Russian Civil War, he appeared in at least eight films, including The Return of Nathan Becker, the first ever Yiddish-language sound film.

Kador Ben-Salim
Ben-Salim, at left, in The Return of Nathan Becker (1932)
Born1890s?
Died1940s?
Known forActing

Biography

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Ben-Salim was an acrobat in a touring Moroccan troupe that arrived in Moscow in 1912. By 1916, he had made his way to Almaty and joined a circus troupe run by Alexander Sosin (the first person to do a front double somersault).[2] Following the Russian Revolution and the start of the civil war, he joined the Red Army and served in one of the international cavalry units under the divisional command of Vasily Chapayev.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Director(s) Notes Refs.
1923 Red Devils Tom Jackson Ivan Perestiani [3]
1926 Savur-Mohyla Tom Jackson Ivan Perestiani Sequel to Red Devils [4]
1926 The Crime of Shirvanskaya Tom Jackson Ivan Perestiani Sequel to Savur-Mohyla [4]
1926 The Punishment of Shirvanskaya Tom Jackson Ivan Perestiani Sequel to The Crime of Shirvanskaya [4]
1926 Ilan-dili Tom Jackson Ivan Perestiani Sequel to The Punishment of Shirvanskaya [4]
1927 Mr Lloyd's Voyage Footman Dmitri Bassalygo
1931 Black Skin Tom Pavel Kolomoitsev [5]
1932 The Return of Nathan Becker Jim Ivan Perestiani [6]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Kiaer 2020, p. 383.
  2. ^ Zaglada 2010, p. 103.
  3. ^ Hoberman 1998, p. 281.
  4. ^ a b c d Bogdanov 2015, p. 105.
  5. ^ Kiaer 2020, p. 360.
  6. ^ Roman 2012, p. 195.

Sources

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  • Bogdanov, Konstantin (November 2015). "'Negroes' in the USSR. The Ethnography of an Imaginary Diaspora" (PDF). Forum for Anthropology and Culture. 15. Translated by Cleminson, Ralph: 97–134.