Charlie Hill

Charlie Hill
Charlie Hill 1977.jpg
Hill on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977
Born
Charles Allan Hill

(1951-07-06)July 6, 1951
DiedDecember 30, 2013(2013-12-30) (aged 62)
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison (BA)
OccupationComedian, writer, actor
Years active1977–2010

Charles Allan Hill (July 6, 1951 – December 30, 2013) was a Native American stand-up comedian, actor, and member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.[1] He wrote for the television series Roseanne.[2] He was the first Native American to be a TV comedy stand-up star.

Early life and education

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, he moved as a child with his family when they returned to their homestead on the Oneida reservation in 1962.

In 1969, he graduated from West De Pere High School and enrolled at University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he majored in speech and drama. He was involved in the Broom Street Theatre Group.

During the early 1970s, he was a member of Hanay Geiogomah's Native American Theatre Ensemble. Among other productions, the ensemble performed Coyote Tracks and Foghorn at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan, where the ensemble was in residence.[3] The ensemble also toured Germany in 1973[4][5] and the United States in 1974.[6]

After college, Hill moved to Los Angeles and worked as an actor and comedian.[7]

Career

Hill's first network appearance was on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977. He also appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,[8] The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and made multiple appearances on Late Night with David Letterman.[2]

Hill was chosen to host for the First Americans in the Arts awards show in Hollywood three times. One time, he co-hosted with the Oneida singer Joanne Shenandoah.[9] As a stand-up comedian, he appeared in venues internationally and was a regular at The Comedy Store in Hollywood.[10]

Hill appeared on many television shows, and hosted an evening of Native American comedians on a Showtime special. He was the subject of the PBS documentary On and Off The Res' with Charlie Hill (1999), directed by Sandra Osawa.[2]

Hill was interviewed about American Indian Movement activist Dennis Banks in the documentary A Good Day to Die.[11]

Hill starred in the 1984 film Harold of Orange, written by Gerald Vizenor.[12]

Awards and recognition

  • 2009: Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award
  • 2010: "Native America on the Web" honored Hill for his "lifetime of promoting positive images of Native Peoples and bridging cultural differences through the healing power of humor"
  • 2022: On July 6, the Google Doodle was dedicated to Hill in recognition of his challenging harmful stereotypes in the entertainment industry as well as being the first Native comedian to be on national television.[13]

Selected film and television credits

Death

Hill died on December 30, 2013, in Oneida, Wisconsin, of lymphoma.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ Charlie Hill profile. The New York Times. Accessed December 31, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c NPR profile of Charlie Hill Archived May 31, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. National Public Radio. Accessed December 31, 2013.
  3. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Native American Theatre Ensemble's Coyote Tracks and Foghorn (1973)". Accessed February 15, 2020. Archived February 15, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Tour + Troupe Files ➔ Program: "Coon Tracks the Coyote" and "Foghorn" (Berlin)". February 15, 2020. Archived February 15, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Core Photograph Files ➔ Production Photographs: "Foghorn" in Berlin (1973)". Accessed February 15, 2020. Archived February 15, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Tour + Troupe Files ➔ Reviews, Programs, Correspondence: Native American Theatre Ensemble US Tour (1974)". Accessed February 15, 2020. Archived February 15, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Ryan Funeral Home & Crematory | De Pere, WI". RyanFH.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  8. ^ Kendra Meinert, "Groundbreaking Oneida comedian Charlie Hill dies at 62" Green Bay Press-Gazette, December 31, 2013. Accessed May 26, 2014.
  9. ^ Charlie Hill: The Indian Spirit is American Archived January 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Kumeyeaay).
  10. ^ "Charles Hill" Archived December 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The Comedy Store.
  11. ^ "A Good Day to Die transcript". Journeyman.tv. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  12. ^ "Best Native Films in Variety". November 18, 2020. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  13. ^ "Today's #GoogleDoodle Celebrates the Native American Stand-up Comedy Legend, Charlie Hill, ... - Latest Tweet by Google Doodles | 👍 LatestLY". LatestLY. July 6, 2022. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  14. ^ "Indian Country Today Media Network: Comedian Charlie Hill Walks On". Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  15. ^ ""Warrior of Comedy" Charlie Hill Has Walked On at 62". Native News Online. December 30, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2018.

External links

Information

Article Charlie Hill in English Wikipedia took following places in local popularity ranking:

Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2022-07-15 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=29959313