As an actor, Hairston was in both the radio and television versions of Amos ’n’ Andy, where he was a foil for the title characters. He was held up both as an example of a black actor making good, and as an example of a black man helping to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes.
“We had a hard time then fighting for dignity. We had no power. We had to take it, and because we took it the young people today have opportunities,” Hairston said. And he took the jobs, working in movies from Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle to Being John Malkovich and on TV, most prominently in recent times as Deacon Rolly Forbes on Amen.
He was also well known as a singer and composer, and was the musical arranger for composer Dmitri Tiomkin starting with Lost Horizon (1937). He continued to work with Tiomkin for over 20 years. Hairston died January 18 in Los Angeles at 98.