Donald Bogle

Donald is a noted African American film historian and prize-winning author and is one of the leading authorities on African Americans in the movies. The most notable of his works are "Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography"; as well as the classic study of Black images in film, "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films"; and "Brown Sugar: Over One Hundred Years of America's Black Female Superstars," which was adapted into a four hour, four part series for PBS. His most recent book is "Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood." Other books are "Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television" and "Blacks in American Films and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia." "Let's all nod in appreciation to Donald Bogle," filmmaker Spike Lee wrote, "for putting everything in historical perspective. Mr. Bogle continues to be our most noted black-cinema historian." He has lectured at universities and museums around the country and abroad. On Turner Classic Movies, he organized and co-hosted a 38-film series on changing images of African Americans in the movies. He has also appeared on such television programs as "The Today Show," "Good Morning American," "Charley Rose," "Tavis Smiley," "Entertainment Tonight," and others. Bogle grew up in a suburb outside Philadelphia and divides his time today between New York City and Los Angeles.