Comments on: Obscure Black C-Listers: Dorian Harewood

By: Ms. Debi~

Ms. Debi~ — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:32:10 +0000

one thing: he is NOT handsome…

By: Creolebuttafly

Creolebuttafly — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:27:02 +0000

Thembi, do you remember that Christina, Jamine and Idid a dance to this song in the Masterman auditorium. Polly is one of my favorite movies as well and I had to search on a ebayish auction site to purchase it for $15 on a subpar quality dvd, but I am happier knowing that Disney waited 15 years to release this for personal home viewing and are charging and arm, a leg and 3 toes for it (preposterous).

I’m listening to this song and getting all goosepimply all over again! The aura and the feelings expressed in this musical number are very real to me and were demonstrated when we performed this in school. It was not staged, we were shouting fa real!

By: tracy

tracy — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:12:31 +0000

Hello everyone. I agree he is underrated. He is both a dramatic and comedic actor. I did a quick search and found limited info. Another underrated actor is Carl Weathers, a San Diego State grad. He also delivers. He has managed to have success in film, TV, Directing and even Soundtrack (Happy Gilmore). Both of these gentlemen are talented and it should be noted. It appears that there can only be no more than 5 A list black actors in Hollywood per decade. Sad when you think about this reality.

By: msladydeborah

msladydeborah — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:41:10 +0000

Dorian Haywood delivers a solid performance when he is working. I always enjoyed watching him on the screen. He would be a good leading man because he has some inner depth that comes out in the roles he has played. But he’s never struck me as being one of those actors that wanted to blow up career wise. For awhile he was working regular enough to be recognized as legit. Then it seemed he stepped back. Or perhaps he was pushed back by the industry because he really comes across more as an average middle class brother-which is not a popular media role.

By: PBG

PBG — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:11:01 +0000

What? No mention of “Sparkle”??

By: jazzfan360

jazzfan360 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:59:03 +0000

Wow, that’s crazy, and a damn shame.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:30:30 +0000

It’s a good thing that voiceover work exists, otherwise talents like Dorian would likely struggle to find work. One of my favorite movies that Dorian did was this 1978 TV movie called “Siege”. He played Simon, the leader of a gang that terrorizes a neighborhood. I’d love to see that movie again.

If it’s still in the vaults somewhere, it would have been cool if they had put the “Cooley High” pilot on one of the “What’s Happening!” DVD sets as a special feature. As a side note, Dorian wouldn’t have been Raj if he had survived the retooling of the show. The character of Preach in “Cooley High” (played by Glynn Turman) was the inspiration for the Raj character.

You wanna hear something messed up, but oh so typical? I was watching a special a few years ago about the history of black portrayals on TV. When they were talking about “What’s Happening”, I learned that the reason the Cochise character wasn’t included in the show is because white execs didn’t want white girls falling in love him. As a result, they cut Cochise out and brought in the character of Rerun. Lesson: You can’t have a black male that could be looked at as a sex symbol by white girls. However, you can have a fat black clown for them and others to laugh at.

By: jazzfan360

jazzfan360 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 07:01:15 +0000

Oh, and I got lost and forgot to say–Dorian Harewood’s never, ever gotten his due. Dude’s always working but always just outside the spotlight, it would seem. Didn’t realize he’d voiced Shredder, either. I thought he was voiced in all the episodes by James Avery, but looks like there was some sharing.

By: jazzfan360

jazzfan360 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:59:08 +0000

How funny; I see looking back at the comments on the original Polly post that this post came exactly a year after I found that one lol. I just watched the video of "Show Us the Way", and man, I hadn't seen that in years and it made me so happy (though it also reminded me I have absolutely no time for interpretive dance. Whoo, the power and emotion of Vickilyn Reynolds' voice during her solo near the beginning made me mist up. Wasn't ready for that.

By: eby

eby — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:04:14 +0000

I love Polly! Years later, and it’s still one of my favorite movies. I just wrote on my blog this week about how much I loved it growing up:
http://whatlookslikecrazy.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/throwback-stand-up/

I bought the sequel, but it didn’t measure up to the original