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D'Urville Martin
Martin in 1974
Born	(1939-02-11)February 11, 1939 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	May 28, 1984(1984-05-28) (aged 45) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Inglewood Park Cemetery,Inglewood, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor and director
Years active	1964–1984
Spouses	Frances L. Johnson ​ (divorced)​ Lillian Ferguson ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	3

D'Urville Martin (February 11, 1939 – May 28, 1984) was an American actor in both film and television. He appeared in numerous 1970s movies in theblaxploitation genre. He also appeared in two unaired pilots of what would becomeAll in the Family asLionel Jefferson. Born in New York City, Martin began his career in the mid-1960s and soon appeared in prominent films such asBlack Like Me,Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, andRosemary's Baby. Martin also directed films in his career, includingDolemite, starringRudy Ray Moore.^[1]

Martin's first film role was as a speaking-line extra inBlack Like Me (1964).^[2] He then had small roles inGuess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) (as Frankie, whose car is accidentally struck by Spencer Tracy's character Matt Drayton)^[3] andRosemary's Baby (1968) (as Diego, the elevator operator).^[4]

Later movies of D'Urville Martin are of theblaxploitation genre, starting withThe Legend of Nigger Charley in 1972 and continuing throughout the decade until he appeared inThe Bear in 1983, abiopic aboutBear Bryant. InThe Legend of Nigger Charley, Martin played Toby, a fellow fugitive of the title character. He reprised his role in the film's two sequels:The Soul of Nigger Charley (1973) andBoss Nigger (1975).

He played Sonny in the filmHammer (1972),^{[citation needed]} Reverend Rufus inBlack Caesar (1973) and its sequelHell Up in Harlem (also 1973), and the pimp inThe Get-Man (a.k.a.Combat Cops) (1974).

Martin directed the 1975Rudy Ray Moore movieDolemite. In addition to directing the film, Martin plays the villain, Willie Green. The movie was followed by a sequel,The Human Tornado, in 1976; Martin did not direct the sequel. In the 2019 film about Moore and the making ofDolemite,Dolemite Is My Name, Martin is played byWesley Snipes, and is portrayed as a reluctant participant in the film, with his role as director regularly usurped by Moore.

D'Urville Martin was born in New York City in 1939. He had a daughter, Debra, with his first wife, Frances L. Johnson. After their divorce, he married Lillian Ferguson in 1966 and had two more children. Martin died of a massive heart attack in Los Angeles in 1984 at the age of 45.^[5][6]

DirectingDolemite, Martin directed a film that proved to be a good example of the era's blaxploitation movies and to this day remains one of the most popular, still inspiring tributes and spoofs today such asBlack Dynamite (2009). Cultural historianTodd Boyd finds that Rudy Ray Moore's depiction of Dolemite is linked to rappers likeSnoop Dogg andThe Notorious B.I.G., pointing out Moore came up with the pronunciation "Biotch!", which later became ubiquitous. Boyd notes the humor in Moore carrying himself off as a sex symbol "to bed the fine-ass women who can't keep their hands off him.”^[7]

• D'Urville Martin atFind a Grave
• D'Urville Martin atIMDb

• 1939 births
• 1984 deaths
• American male film actors
• Male actors from New York City
• African-American film directors
• Film directors from New York City
• Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery
• American male television actors
• 20th-century African-American male actors
• 20th-century American male actors
• Blaxploitation film directors

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