Joe SenecaFilmography

Born:: January 14, 1919
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Black character actor Joe Seneca almost always brought a sense of dignity and social consciousness to his roles. Born and raised in Cleveland, OH, he began performing with the Three Riffs song and dance trio. Early in his career, he penned songs such as "Break It to Me Gently" (co-written with Diane Lampert...Read More

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A Time to Kill

Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Brenda Fricker

Synopsis: Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the law into his own hands after the legal system fails to adequately punish the men who brutally raped and beat his daughter, leaving her for dead. Normally, a distraught father could count on some judicial sympathy in those circumstances. Unfortunately Read More

1996
The Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story

Actors: James Earl Jones, Mary Alice, Tommy Hollis, Cissy Houston, Clifton James

Synopsis: The Vernon Johns Story is the inspirational saga of the man who preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama Baptist Church. Described as "one of God's most brilliant preachers," Johns campaigned tirelessly for Civil Rights long before the cudgel was taken up by the Read More

1994
The Saint of Fort Washington

Actors: Danny Glover, Matt Dillon, Rick Aviles, Nina Siemaszko, Ving Rhames

Synopsis: Danny Glover plays Jerry, a caring street person who takes a mentally retarded Matthew Dillon under his wing, teaching him the survival smarts so necessary to society's left-overs. The two team up with three other vagrants in an attempt to build a nuclear group-support community and find little Read More

1993
Law & Order: Profile

Synopsis: After surviving a blast from a double-barrelled shotgun, Henry Jackson (Joe Seneca) is still able and willing to identify his assailant. It turns out that the shooter is an outspoken white supremacist -- and a serial killer who preys upon minorities. This is why Assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty Read More

1993
Malcolm X

Actors: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett, Al Freeman, Jr., Delroy Lindo, Albert Hall

Synopsis: Writer-director Spike Lee's epic portrayal of the life and times of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X begins with the cross-cut imagery of the police beating of black motorist Rodney King juxtaposed with an American flag burning into the shape of the letter X. When the film's narrative Read More

11/18/92
Mississippi Masala

Actors: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore, Charles S. Dutton, Joe Seneca

Synopsis: Mississippi Masala is a tale of how prejudice makes victims and instigators of us all. In 1972, Indian Jay (Roshan Seth), a resident of Uganda, is forced by the bigoted Amin regime to take his family and flee the country. He vows to hate and distrust all blacks--at least until he is able to Read More

2/5/92
Gordon Parks: "Visions"

Synopsis: Photographer, author, scriptwriter, and director, Gordon Parks' visions are captured in this video. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1991
Mo' Better Blues

Actors: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Joie Lee, Cynda Williams

Synopsis: Spike Lee's 1990 directing effort is a jazz film, the story of a fictional trumpeter named Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington). He leads a quintet at the Beneath the Underground club with a flashy saxophonist named Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes). Though Shadow takes a few too many solos Read More

8/3/90
Tarzan in Manhattan

Actors: Tony Curtis, Kim Crosby

Synopsis: If you liked the 1941 Johnny Weissmuller opus Tarzan's New York Adventure, you'll go ape (sorry!) over the made-for-TV Tarzan in Manhattan. The Jungle Lord uncovers an insidious plot by a covetous scientist to enhance the natural IQ of African monkeys. To prevent his beloved Cheetah from falling Read More

1989
The Blob

Actors: Beau Billingslea, Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca

Synopsis: After the phenomenal box-office and critical success of David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly, a series of big-budget remakes of '50s horror favorites rode in on its coattails in the late 1980s -- though none managed to rise above mere camp clones of their elders, albeit garnished with modern Read More

8/5/88
School Daze

Actors: Kadeem Hardison, Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Joe Seneca, Ossie Davis

Synopsis: Fraternity and sorority members clash with the other students at a historically black university in this politically charged musical, which marked the sophomore feature from director Spike Lee. Dap (Laurence Fishburne) is a politically conscious brother who leads anti-apartheid demonstrations and Read More

2/12/88
Big Shots

Actors: Ricky Busker, Darius McCrary, Robert Joy, Robert Prosky, Jerzy Skolimowski

Synopsis: Consumed by grief when his father is felled by a heart attack, 11-year-old Obie (Ricky Busker) runs away from his white, upper-class surroundings. He ends up in a particularly dismal Chicago ghetto neighborhood where, after enduring a beating administered by gang members, he is befriended by Read More

10/2/87
A Gathering of Old Men

Actors: Holly Hunter, Richard Widmark

Synopsis: Gathering of Old Men was based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines, who'd previously written The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Like Pittman, Gathering builds its narrative upon a tapestry of deep-bred racial intolerance in the South. When a bigoted white Louisiana tenant farmer is killed, black Read More

1987
The Cosby Show: Hillman

Synopsis: The Huxtables head to Hillman College to visit Denise (Lisa Bonet) and to attend a retirement ceremony for school president Dr. Hanes (Joe Seneca). While Denise nervously tries to hide the fact that she isn't the world's best housekeeper, Dr. Hanes invites Cliff (Bill Cosby) to emcee the ceremony Read More

1987
Crossroads

Actors: Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Robert Judd

Synopsis: A passion for blues music is evident in this drama based on a contest-winning script by former blues musician John Fusco -- and featuring one of the decade's best-received motion picture soundtracks, written and performed by Ry Cooder. Eugene Martone Ralph Macchio is a classically trained Read More

3/14/86
Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story

Actors: Martin Sheen

Synopsis: Based on a true story, the made-for-television Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story is the tale of a Washington, DC-based Vietnam veteran (Martin Sheen) who fights for America's homeless by staging hunger strikes and battling with various government agencies, eventually winning the attention of Read More

1986
Silverado

Actors: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, John Cleese

Synopsis: Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado is a fond hark back to the all-star, big-budget westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. The various plotlines converge at the town of Silverado, held in thrall by crooked sheriff Brian Dennehy and his behemoth "deputies." The four disparate heroes--Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Scott Glenn Read More

1985
Heart of The Garden

Actors: Frederick Koehler, Kaiulani Lee, Joe Seneca, Madeleine Thornton-Sherwood

1985
The Evil That Men Do

Actors: José Ferrer, Charles Bronson, Theresa Saldana, Joseph Maher, Rene Enriquez

Synopsis: In yet another slick, formulaic Charles Bronson vengeance film (they would continue until the actor was in his mid-70s, still playing the morally insulted friend/husband/lover), Bronson is Holland, an assassin for hire who has just come out of retirement to finish off a Guatemalan thug by the name Read More

1984
Terrible Joe Moran

Actors: Ellen Barkin, James Cagney, Art Carney

Synopsis: 84-year-old James Cagney delivered his final performance in the TV movie Terrible Joe Moran. Cagney plays a former boxing champ, now enfeebled and bound to a wheelchair (we see him in his prime via a clip from Cagney's 1932 vehicle Winner Take All). Long estranged from his family, the ex-boxer Read More

1984
House of Dies Drear

Actors: Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Moses Gunn, Shavar Ross

Synopsis: The House of Dies Drear is a spooky old mansion where several strange events have occurred of late. An out-of-town family moves into the home, only to be confronted by an odd recluse (Joe Seneca) and by a neighbor warning them to get out "while you got the chance." The youngest members of the Read More

1984
Solomon Northup's Odyssey

Synopsis: Half Slave, Half Free is the reissue title for African-American director Gordon Parks' TV movie Solomon Northup's Odyssey. Based on the autobiography Twelve Years a Slave, the film relates the story of Solomon Northup, a black freedman who, in 1841, was kidnapped in Washington D.C. and sold into Read More

1984
The Verdict

Actors: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea

Synopsis: In Sidney Lumet's powerful courtroom drama The Verdict, Paul Newman stars as Frank Galvin, an alcoholic Boston lawyer who tries to redeem his personal and professional reputation by winning a difficult medical malpractice case. Frank, down on his luck, is presented with the case of his life when Read More

1982
The Gentleman Bandit

Actors: Ralph Waite

Synopsis: Made for television, The Gentleman Bandit stars Ralph Waite as a popular priest whose life is shattered by a case of mistaken identity. Waite is fingered by a witness as a holdup man; during a lineup, several other witnesses confirm this. Despite his protestations, Waite cannot account for his Read More

1981
The Tenth Month

Synopsis: Robert Altman protégé Joan Tewkesbury called the directorial shots on the made-for-TV The Tenth Month. After a whirlwind affair with famed concert pianist Keith Michell, middle-aged, unmarried Carol Burnett becomes pregnant. Rather than seek out the father, she decides to raise the baby by Read More

1979
Kramer vs. Kramer

Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander, Howard Duff, JoBeth Williams

Synopsis: Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jilted husband learns how to be a nurturing father. Manhattan housewife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her workaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman Read More

1979
Wilma

Actors: Shirley Jo Finney, Cicely Tyson

Synopsis: This made-for-TV biographical film chronicles the early life of Olympic gold medalist Wilma Rudolph (Cicely Tyson) as she struggles to overcome a childhood bout of polio and realize her Olympic ambitions. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

1977
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Actors: Thomas LaFleur, Maria Landa, William Snickowski, Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman

Synopsis: On a quiet midday in New York, along the Lexington Avenue subway line, the train designated "Pelham One Two Three" -- so named for its station of origin and time of departure -- makes its way down the East Side of Manhattan. One by one, three men board the train, and at 28th Street, a fourth man Read More

1974