Early career Caesar made his film debut in 1969 in
Che!, playing Cuban revolutionary
Juan Almeida Bosque. A year later, Caesar became an announcer for and then joined the
Negro Ensemble Company in 1970 for productions such as
The River Niger,
Square Root of the Soul, and
The Brownsville Raid. Caesar also later worked with the Minnesota Theater Company, Inner City Repertory Company, and the
American Shakespeare Theatre. He had a stint on the soap operas
Guiding Light and
General Hospital in 1964 and 1969, respectively. Thanks to his voice, Caesar found frequent work as a voiceover artist for television and radio commercials, including theatrical previews and radio commercials for many
blaxploitation films such as
Cleopatra Jones,
Superfly,
Truck Turner and
The Spook Who Sat by the Door. For many years, he was the voice of the
United Negro College Fund's publicity campaign, reciting the iconic slogan "...because a mind is a terrible thing to waste." Later in his career, Caesar also lent his voice to the animated series
Silverhawks, in which he voiced Hotwing, a magician and skilled illusionist. In 1980, Caesar appeared in the infamous
Bruceploitation mockumentary
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, playing himself as a fictional television news reporter investigating the death of
Bruce Lee.
''A Soldier's Play'' Caesar’s most iconic work started with his role as US Army Sergeant Vernon C. Waters in
Charles Fuller's
Pulitzer Prize-winning stage drama, ''
A Soldier's Play, for which Caesar won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and an Obie Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement. A Soldier’s Play'' is set in
Louisiana during
World War II. Sgt. Waters is an ambitious Black
drill sergeant who strives for recognition for African-American soldiers while detesting "
Geechees", as he terms
uneducated, subservient, and unintelligent southern Blacks, as an obstacle to
racial equality and the success of the future
African American upper class, and who need to be removed at all costs. The play and film are a
murder mystery that unfolds in flashbacks, as a Black JAG Captain investigates Sgt. Waters' murder. In a 1985 interview with the
Los Angeles Times, Caesar stated, while crafting the character of Waters, he drew on his experiences with
racism in
Classical theatre. "I’d studied
Shakespeare to death.... After I did one season at a Shakespearean repertory company, a director said to me, ‘You have a marvelous voice. You know the king’s English well. You speak
iambic pentameter. My suggestion is that you go to New York and get a good colored role.' Waters has tried his best, but no matter what you do, they still hate you." Caesar subsequently coined the character's signature phrase, "They still hate you." Caesar reprised his role as Waters in
Norman Jewison's 1984 film ''
A Soldier's Story'', an adaptation of Fuller's play. His performance was acclaimed and earned him numerous accolades, including
Academy Award and
Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and an
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He also won the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Later career On the basis of his ''Soldier's Story'' success, Caesar was cast in
Steven Spielberg's
The Color Purple as Old Mister Johnson, the father of
Danny Glover's character. He also appeared on an episode of
The Twilight Zone and an
ABC Afterschool Special. Caesar's last completed film was
Club Paradise which was released posthumously. ==Personal life and death==