Oscar Polk (December 25, 1899National Archives and Records Administration. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.U.S. Census, April 1, 1930. State of New York, County of New York, enumeration district 1053, page 1-B. – January 4, 1949) was an American actor. He portrayed the enslaved man Pork in the film Gone with the Wind (1939).
Life and career His most memorable scene in that film comes when Pork discloses to Scarlett O'Hara, portrayed by Vivien Leigh, that the back property taxes “done run up sky high” on Tara in the amount of $300.
Polk was married to Ivy V. Polk (née Ivy Parsons, born October 12, 1920, deceased September 2026), who herself had a deleted scene in Gone with the Wind.Gone with the Wind screen tests (US 1937–39) They had a son, Oscar Polk Jr.
On January 4, 1949, Oscar Polk was fatally struck by a taxi cab as he stepped off a curb in Times Square in New York City 10 days after his 49th birthday. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to have a major role in the play Leading Lady, and he was replaced by Ossie Davis. He is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Long Island, New York.
Theatre credits Broadway The Trial of Mary Dugan (1927) Once in a Lifetime (1930) Both Your Houses (1933) The Green Pastures (1935) You Can't Take It with You (1936) Swingin' The Dream (1939), a swing music adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Sunny River (1942) The Walking Gentleman (1942) Dark Eyes (1943)
Other stage credits Horses Are Like That (1943) Bigger Than Barnum (1946) The Magnificent Heel (1946)
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1935 It's a Great Life Lazy Bones 1936 The Green Pastures Gabriel 1937 Underworld Sam Brown 1938Out of the InkwellJanitorUncredited1939 Big Town Czar Arthur, Harlem Numbers Man Uncredited1939 Gone with the Wind Pork - House Servant 1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee Blakely 1941 Birth of the Blues Man in Jail Uncredited1942 Reap the Wild Wind Salt Meat 1942 White Cargo Umeela 1943 Cabin in the Sky The Deacon / Fleetfoot
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