Ruby Dee

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Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee - 1972.jpg
Ruby Dee in 1972
Born Ruby Ann Wallace
(1922-10-27)October 27, 1922
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Alma mater Hunter College
Occupation Actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, activist
Years active 1940–2014
Spouse(s) Frankie Dee Brown (approx 1941–1945; divorced)
Ossie Davis (1948–2005; his death)
Children 3

Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and activist. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of Ruth Younger in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961). Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and Do the Right Thing (1989).

For her performance as Mahalee Lucas in American Gangster (2007), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the recipient of Grammy, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk, Screen Actors Guild, and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Awards, as well as the National Medal of Arts, and Kennedy Center Honors. She was married to actor Ossie Davis until his death in 2005.

Early life

Dee by Carl Van Vechten, September 25, 1962

Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio,[1] the daughter of Gladys (née Hightower) and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter and porter.[2] After her mother left the family, Dee's father remarried, to Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher.[3][4][5][6]

Dee was raised in Harlem, New York.[7] She attended Hunter College High School and went on to graduate from Hunter College with a degree in romance languages in 1945.[8] She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta.[9]

Career

Dee joined the American Negro Theater as an apprentice, working with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms.[8] She made several appearances on Broadway. Her first onscreen role was in That Man of Mine in 1946. She received national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story.[7] In 1965, Dee performed in lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear, becoming the first black actress to portray a lead role in the festival. Her career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Poitier.[8]

During the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers. In 1969, Dee appeared in 20 episodes of Peyton Place.[7] She appeared as Cora Sanders, a Marxist college professor, in the Season 1/Episode 14 of Police Woman, entitled “Target Black" which aired on Friday night, January 3, 1975. The character of Cora Sanders was obviously, but loosely, influenced by the real-life Angela Y. Davis. She appeared in one episode of The Golden Girls' sixth season. She played Queen Haley in Roots: The Next Generations, a 1979 miniseries.[7]

Dee was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film Decoration Day.[10] She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach episode, "Skylark". Her husband Ossie Davis (1917–2005) also appeared in the episode. She appeared in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, and his 1991 film Jungle Fever.[7]

In 1995, she and Davis were awarded the National Medal of Arts.[11] They were also recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. In 2003, she narrated a series of WPA slave narratives in the HBO film Unchained Memories.[12] In 2007 the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album was shared by Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter.[8][13]

Dee was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She won the Screen Actors Guild award for the same performance. At 83 years of age, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart who was 87 when nominated for her role in Titanic. This was Dee's only Oscar nomination.[14]

On February 12, 2009, Dee joined the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, in honoring Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in New York City. Under the direction of Maurice Peress, they performed Earl Robinson's The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra, in which Dee was the Narrator.[15]

Dee's last role in a theatrically-released film was in the Eddie Murphy comedy A Thousand Words, in which she portrayed the mother of Murphy's protagonist. As of 2016, her final two film roles have yet to be released. The first of these will be in 1982, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival[16] and becomes available through home video on March 1, 2016.[17] King Dog, on the other hand, is still in production (as it was at the time of Dee's death[18]).

Personal life and activism

Dee speaking in 2006

Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in 1941, and began using his middle name as her stage name. The couple divorced in 1945.[8] Three years later she married actor Ossie Davis, who she met while costarring in the 1946 Broadway play Jeb.[19] Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discussed their political activism and their decision to have an open marriage (later changing their minds).[20][21] Together they had three children: son, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad. Dee was a breast cancer survivor of more than three decades.[22]

In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dee's name and picture.[23]

Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists.[24] Dee was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1963, Dee emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[25] Dee and Davis were both personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, with Davis giving the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral in 1965.[26] In 1970, she won the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League.[7]

In 1999, Dee and Davis were arrested at 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department, protesting the police shooting of Amadou Diallo.[27]

In early 2003, The Nation published "Not In My Name", an open proclamation vowing opposition to the impending US invasion of Iraq. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were among the signatories, along with Robert Altman, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon and Howard Zinn, among others.

In November 2005 Dee was awarded – along with her late husband – the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award, presented by the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis. Dee, a long-time resident of New Rochelle, New York, was inducted into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame which honors the most notable residents from throughout the community's 325-year history. She was also inducted into the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007, joining such other honorees as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nita Lowey.[28] In 2009 she received an Honorary Degree from Princeton University.[13]

Death

Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91.[29] In a statement, Gil Robertson IV of the African American Film Critics Association said, "the members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee. Throughout her seven-decade career, Ms Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of black womanhood and also used her gifts to champion for Human Rights. Her strength, courage and beauty will be greatly missed."[7]

Following her death, the marquee on the Apollo Theater read “A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922-2014".[30]

After her death, longtime friend Marla Gibbs attended the 8th Annual Leimert Park Village Book Fair on August 9, 2014, who in turn was also a legacy honoree, along with Eric Monte.[31]

Dee was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of Davis, with the inscription "In this thing together".[8] A public memorial celebration honoring Ruby Dee was held on September 20, 2014, at the Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan.[32]

Work

Filmography

Features:

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Short subjects:

  • Lorraine Hansberry: The Black Experience in the Creation of Drama (1975)[40]
  • The Torture of Mothers (1980)[33]
  • Tuesday Morning Ride (1995)[41]
  • The Unfinished Journey (1999) (narrator)[42]
  • The New Neighbors (2009) (narrator)[43]

Television

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Stage

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Discography

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Bibliography

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See also

References

  1. ↑ "Ruby Dee marks 90th birthday with new documentary about her illustrious life with late husband Ossie Davis", New York Daily News, November 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Delta Sigma Theta website
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts
  12. ↑ IMDb.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/tiff-2013-reviews-tommy-olivers-debut-1982-provides-a-platform-for-hill-harper-to-shine
  17. ↑ http://videoeta.com/movie/179342/1982/
  18. ↑ http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/06/ruby_dee_a_raisin_in_the_sun_a.html
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ The official site of Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, ossieandruby.com; accessed March 3, 2014.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Denis Slattery, Joe Dziemianowicz, Larry McShane, "Ruby Dee dead at 91: Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader — frequently costarred with husband Ossie Davis", New York Daily News, June 12, 2014.
  31. ↑ [1], BernardParks.com, August 9, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Memorial Honoring Ruby Dee Held At Riverside Church", CBS, New York, September 20, 2014.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 34.7 34.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.00 35.01 35.02 35.03 35.04 35.05 35.06 35.07 35.08 35.09 35.10 35.11 35.12 35.13 35.14 35.15 35.16 35.17 35.18 35.19 35.20 35.21 35.22 35.23 35.24 35.25 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ 44.00 44.01 44.02 44.03 44.04 44.05 44.06 44.07 44.08 44.09 44.10 44.11 44.12 44.13 44.14 44.15 44.16 44.17 44.18 44.19 44.20 44.21 44.22 44.23 44.24 44.25 44.26 44.27 44.28 44.29 44.30 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 51.4 51.5 51.6 51.7 51.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Women of Vision Awards. WIFV.org.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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