Ralph Cooper on AllMovie

Ralph Cooper was an actor and emcee who gained renown as the founder of the Apollo Theater's famous Amateur Night where such luminaries as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and others got their start. He started the show in 1934. Cooper also worked as an actor in Hollywood films during the '30s and as a producer of films especially geared toward African American audiences. In 1984, he was a special consultant to Francis Ford Coppola on The Cotton Club (1984).