Adolph Caesar

Adolph Caesar (December 5, 1933 – March 6, 1986) was an American actor, theatre director, playwright, dancer, and choreographer. Known for his signature deep voice, Caesar was a staple of Off-Broadway as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, and as a voiceover artist for numerous film trailers. He earned widespread acclaim for his performance as Sgt. Vernon Waters in Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play, a role he reprised in the 1984 film adaptation A Soldier's Story, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. Early life and education Caesar was born Harlem, New York City in 1933 as the youngest of three sons born to a Dominican mother and a black indigenous father. At age 12, he contracted laryngitis which led to his notably deep voice. After graduating from George Washington High School in 1952, Caesar enlisted in the United States Navy during the Korean War era, serving as a hospital corpsman for five years, achieving the rank of chief petty officer. Upon his discharge from the service, he decided to break into the theater and went on to study drama at New York University, graduating in 1962.