Though we have been writing about lots of corporate brands of late, we regret to advise that today’s post is not about the pizza chain. Nor even the 1931 gangster movie with Edward G. Robinson. But it is about a guy who once ran with gangs. Harry Caesar (1928-1994), known professionally as “Little Caesar” was a singer and actor of the previous century. I first took note of him from that quirky magic movie The Escape Artist (1982), in which he portrayed a sax player.
Caesar was an orphan from Youngstown, Ohio who had belonged to a group of troublemakers called the Wolf Gang in his youth. He served in the army in the late ’40s, where he discovered boxing, his first semi-legit pursuit. In civilian life he didn’t like getting pummeled so he became a singer. From 1952 to 1964 he released a series of singles that charted in the rhythm and blues category, the most successful, “Goodbye Baby” making it to #5 in 1952.
By the ’60s, his style of R & B had been supplanted by newer trends so he shifted gears to acting, though he continued to sing live in nightclubs. Starting with a 1969 guest shot on Julia, he worked constantly as an actor until the end of his life. He was mostly a bit player but sometimes his roles were a bit larger, though they were always supporting parts, and he was always memorable. His films include Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Trouble Man (1972), Emperor of the North Pole (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), Farewell My Lovely (1975), Casey’s Shadow (1978), The End (1978), Barbarosa (1982), City Heat (1984), Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), Bird on a Wire (1990), and A Few Good Men (1992). His TV work included appearances on Roll Out (the pilot episode), Sanford and Son, Baretta, Good Times, and Hill Street Blues. He was also in numerous television movies like Disaster on the Coastliner (1979), and Murder in Mississippi (1990). His final appearance was on Evening Shade starring Burt Reynolds, with whom he had acted in The Longest Yard nearly 20 years earlier.
Harry Caesar was 66 years old at the time of his passing in 1994.
For more on show business history please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.