Ernestine McClendon photographs

1936-1986

Ernestine McClendon née Epps was born on August 17, 1914 to Edward E. Epps and Lillie Warren in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied at Virginia State College before moving to New York City, where she studied acting with Michael Howard at Columbia University from 1935 to 1936. She married Horace McClendon on December 27, 1937. They separated shortly thereafter. McClendon was living with actor George Wiltshire by 1950, and together they adopted a daughter, Phyllis (born 1948), in the early- to mid-1950s. McClendon and Wiltshire remained together until his death in 1976.

McClendon began her career as a television actress in 1950 with roles in No Time for Comedy and the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars episode "Lady with a Will." She also appeared with Wiltshire and Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham on The Ed Sullivan Show. In addition to television roles, McClendon appeared in theatre productions and film, performing in Time Out for Ginger (1958), Deep Are the Roots (1959), Raisin in the Sun (1960), and The Grass Harp (1960-1961). Her film credits include A Face in the Crowd (1957), The Apartment (1960), The Rat Race (1960), and The Mother (1961). McClendon was also active in summer stock.

In 1960, after Phyllis noticed a Black actor in a television commercial, McClendon launched a one-woman letter writing campaign to acting agencies and product manufacturers, imploring them to hire Black actors and actresses in their commercials. She initially sent 100 letters, but when the answers were largely unsatisfactory, McClendon mailed roughly 400 more letters. In these letters, she emphasized the overlooked economic impact of Black consumers. As the agencies and manufacturers started to agree to use Black talent in their commercials, McClendon evolved from actress to agent and founded McClendon Enterprises, opening her office in 1962. By late 1968, she was managing approximately forty clients, both Black and white.

In addition to being the first Black theatrical agent in New York City, McClendon was also the first woman in her field to be franchised by all four acting unions at the time—the American Guild of Variety Artists, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actors Equity, and the Screen Actors Guild—as a theatrical agent.

In 1971, the McClendon-Wiltshires moved to Los Angeles after McClendon was injured in a serious car accident. She opened a West Coast office of McClendon Enterprises, but was forced to close the New York office when Wiltshire, who had been running the business while McClendon was recovering, fell ill in 1972. Some of McClendon's clients included Morgan Freeman, Gloria Foster, Raymond St. Jacques, and Giancarlo Esposito.

McClendon closed her agency in 1980 and returned to performing. She appeared in the television series Remington Steele (1983) and the mini-series Atlanta Child Murders (1985); movies Homer and Eddie (1989) and Secret Agent 00 Soul (1990); and made her debut as a stand-up comedian in 1984, at the age of 71.

Ernestine McClendon passed away on September 23, 1991 at the age of 77 in Los Angeles, California.