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This velvet-voiced jazz baritone and occasional actor was largely unknown to white audiences, yet in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Herb Jeffries was a major figure in black-cast films. Today, he is honored as a trailblazer who broke down entrenched racial barriers in Hollywood and portrayed a positive image of a black actor on screen.
Born Umberto Alejandro Ballentino on September 24, 1911 (some sources say 1914) in Detroit, his white Irish mother operated a boarding house, while his father—whom he never met—had a mixed heritage including Sicilian, Ethiopian, French, Italian, and Moorish ancestry. Raised in a diverse neighborhood, Herb experienced little severe racism as a child. His passion for singing emerged during his teenage years, often spending time with the Howard Buntz Orchestra at Detroit ballrooms.
After relocating to Chicago, he performed in various clubs, including one reportedly owned by Al Capone. At 19, Erskine Tate signed Herb to his Orchestra at Chicago’s Savoy Dance Hall. There, Earl "Fatha" Hines noticed him and hired him in 1931 for performances and recordings. During tours in the South, Jeffries first encountered overt segregation. He left Hines’s band in 1934 and, after touring with Blanche Calloway's band, settled in Los Angeles, where he worked as a vocalist and emcee at the popular Club Alabam. Then came Duke Ellington, with whom he stayed for a decade. Initially a lyrical tenor, Jeffries lowered his vocal range on the advice of Ellington’s longtime arranger, Billy Strayhorn.
Tall, debonair, mustachioed, blue-eyed, and light-skinned with a handsome Latin appearance, he was ideal for "sepia movies"—films shown in segregated theaters featuring all-black casts. Inspired by Gene Autry's success, Herb debuted as a crooning cowboy in Harlem on the Prairie (1937), the first black western of the talkie era. He wore dark makeup on his light skin and rarely removed his white stetson, which concealed naturally brown hair. A hit film, he sang his own songs to his prairie love or horse in The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939). Beyond westerns, he starred in the crime film Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938). As the whip-cracking, gun-toting, melodic Bronze Buckaroo, Jeffries provided a dignified alternative to degrading stereotypes of black actors. He also refused roles in white films that relegated him to servile parts.
Meanwhile, Herb thrived as a singer, producing hits like "In My Solitude," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "When I Write My Song," Duke Ellington's "Jump for Joy," and his signature tune "Flamingo," a major hit in 1941. He missed out on songs like "Love Letters" and "Native Boy," which might have boosted his fame further. In the 1950s, Jeffries worked extensively in Europe, especially France, where he owned a Paris nightclub for a period. He starred in Calypso Joe (1957) alongside Angie Dickinson and appeared in television shows including "I Dream of Jeannie," "The Virginian," and "Hawaii Five-0."
Despite his light skin, the man known as "Mr. Flamingo" never attempted to pass as white. Proud of his heritage, he consistently identified as black. In the mid-1990s, with a resurgence of interest in westerns, Herb recorded a comeback album, The Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again, for Warner Western. During this career revival, he lectured at colleges, headlined concerts, and recorded CDs. At age 88, in 1999-2000, he released The Duke and I, a tribute to Duke Ellington on his 100th birthday, recreating songs they performed together.
His five marriages, including one to famed exotic dancer Tempest Storm, resulted in five children. In his 90s, Jeffries lived in the Palm Springs area with Savannah Shippen, his fifth wife, who was 45 years younger. He remained one of the last surviving original singing cowboys, alongside Monte Hale, until his death on May 25, 2014, after reaching 102 years.
In 2003, he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame and performed for President Bush at the White House. As the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Herb Jeffries deserves lasting recognition for his groundbreaking contributions to film and music history.
