The Notorious Elinor Lee is a 1940 race film directed, written, and co-produced by the African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.
Elinor Lee, a gangster’s moll living in the Harlem section of New York City, has signed up-and-coming boxer Benny Blue to a 10-year contract.
The film’s production was covered by Time magazine, which described filmmaker Micheaux as a “thickset, mild-mannered, chocolate-colored producer.”[2] Robert Earl Jones was cast as Benny Blue, with Edna Mae Harris as Fredi and Gladys Williams, who was also cast in Micheaux’s Lying Lips, as Elinor Lee.
Two African-American actors with Hollywood careers beyond race films had smaller roles: Oscar Polk, who was best known for playing the servant Pork in Gone with the Wind (1939), and Juano Hernandez, the Puerto Rico-born star of the drama Intruder in the Dust (1949).
Wearing formal clothing including a top hat, white silk gloves and an Inverness cape, Julian cautioned the opening night audience on the film's lack of polish by stating: "Don’t expect the perfection of a Hollywood picture, but know that we’ve done our very best.