African American Actors Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis Signed Photo 8X10 Beautiful

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176253070361 AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTORS RUBY DEE & OSSIE DAVIS SIGNED PHOTO 8X10 BEAUTIFUL. A SIGNED 8X10 INCH b&w PHOTO OF RUBY DEE AND OSSIE DAVIS. A GREAT SHOT OF THESE TWO LEGENDARY ACTORS.

Golden Globes, USA 1969 Nominee Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor The Scalphunters (1968) Primetime Emmy Awards 2005 Nominee Primetime Emmy Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series The L Word (2004) For playing "Melvin Porter". Posthumously. 1997 Nominee Primetime Emmy Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Miss Evers' Boys (1997) For playing: "Mr. Evers". 1978 Nominee Primetime Emmy Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series King (1978) For playing: "Martin Luther King, Sr.". 1969 Nominee Primetime Emmy Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Teacher, Teacher (1969) For playing: "Charles Carter". Acapulco Black Film Festival 1997 Winner Black Film Award Best Actor Get on the Bus (1996) Black Reel Awards 2004 Nominee Black Reel Television: Best Supporting Actor Deacons for Defense (2003) Chlotrudis Awards 2004 Nominee Chlotrudis Award Best Supporting Actor Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Daytime Emmy Awards 2001 Winner Daytime Emmy Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special Finding Buck McHenry (2000) For playing "Buck McHenry". Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2004 Nominee Chainsaw Award Best Supporting Actor Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Grammy Awards 2007 Winner Grammy Best Spoken Word Album Shared with: Ruby Dee (artist) Steve Strassman (engineer/mixer) Peter Pantelis (engineer/mixer) Taro Meyer (producer) For the album "With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together" 2001 Nominee Grammy Best Spoken Word Album Shared with: Gerry Bamman Robert Bella Lindsay Crouse Ruby Dee Brian Dennehy Denise Dumont Jill Gascoine Amy Irving Anne Jackson Jordan Lage Brian Stokes Mitchell Alfred Molina Al Pacino Natasha Richardson Patrick Stewart Allyson Tucker Kathleen Turner Eli Wallach Fritz Weaver For "The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets" Image Awards (NAACP) 2004 Nominee Image Award Outstanding Actor in a TV Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special Deacons for Defense (2003) 2001 Winner Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series City of Angels (2000) Nominee Image Award Outstanding Performance in a Youth or Children's Series/Special Finding Buck McHenry (2000) 1999 Winner Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Promised Land (1996) 1997 Nominee Image Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Get on the Bus (1996) 1996 Nominee Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Client (1995) 1991 Winner Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Do the Right Thing (1989) 1989 Winner Hall of Fame Shared with: Ruby Dee Sammy Davis Jr. NAMIC Vision Awards 2004 Nominee Vision Award Best Dramatic Performance Deacons for Defense (2003) Satellite Awards 1998 Nominee Golden Satellite Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Miss Evers' Boys (1997) Screen Actors Guild Awards 2001 Winner Life Achievement Award St. Louis International Film Festival 1998 Winner Lifetime Achievement Award Shared with: Ruby Dee The Kennedy Center Honors 2004 Winner Kennedy Center Honors Shared with: Ruby Dee Western Heritage Awards 1970 Winner Bronze Wrangler Fictional Television Drama Bonanza (1959) Shared with: David Dortort (director) Michael Landon (director/actor) Richard Collins (producer) Lorne Greene (actor) Dan Blocker (actor) Roy Jenson (actor) Harrison Page (actor) Barbara Parrio (actor) George Spell (actor) Jerry Summers (actor) For episode "The Wish". Writers Guild of America, USA 1984 Winner WGA Award (TV) Adapted Drama Anthology For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story (1983) Shared with: Ken Rotcop Ruby Dee, best known for her role in 1961’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and latterly for her Oscar-nominated turn as Denzel Washington’s mother in 2007’s “American Gangster,” died Wednesday in New York. She was 91. Dee’s Oscar nomination in 2008 for her performance as the feisty mother of a Harlem druglord played by Washington in Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” was particularly impressive because the actress made an impression on the Motion Picture Academy with only 10 minutes of screen time. She won a SAG Award for the same performance. Dee also won an Emmy in 1991 for her performance in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie “Decoration Day.” She and her husband, Ossie Davis, who often performed together, were among the first generation of African-American actors, led by Sidney Poitier, afforded the opportunity for significant, dignified dramatic roles in films, onstage and on television. When Dee and Davis (who died in 2005) were announced as recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the center described them as “one of the most revered couples of the American stage, two of the most prolific and fearless artists in American culture. As individuals and as a team they have created profound and lasting work that has touched us all. With courage and tenacity they have thrown open many a door previously shut tight to African American artists and planted the seed for the flowering of America’s multicultural humanity.” Dee and Davis were civil rights activists beginning in the early 1950s during the controversy over the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Later they were involved in Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. In 1959 Dee starred alongside Poitier, playing Ruth Younger, wife to his Walter Younger, in the original, landmark Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” the first play by a black woman to receive a Rialto staging and the first Main Stem play to be directed by a black man, Lloyd Richards. The play, Poitier and Richards were all nominated for Tonys. Dee, Poitier and others from the cast reproduced their performances for the 1961 film adaptation, which was selected for the National Film Registry in 2005. Dee made her bigscreen debut with a prominent role in the all-black musical “That Man of Mine” in 1946. She starred opposite boxer Joe Louis, playing himself, in 1949 crime drama “The Fight Never Ends,” but she came to prominence with her role in 1950’s “The Jackie Robinson Story,” with the first African-American in Major League Baseball playing himself and Dee playing his wife. She had an uncredited role in Sidney Poitier’s first film, “No Way Out,” the same year. For seven months beginning in September 1961, Dee and Davis starred on Broadway in the racially charged, Davis-penned satire “Purlie Victorious,” which attracted much controversy for, among other things, its setting: a modern Confederate plantation. AD Dee starred with Davis in the 1963 film “Gone Are the Days!,” an adaptation of “Purlie Victorious,” and appeared in 1967 film “The Incident.” The actress first made her mark on the smallscreen in a 1963 episode of “The Doctors and the Nurses,” drawing her first Emmy nomination. During the 1960s she had recurring roles on “Peyton Place” and daytime soap “Guiding Light” while guesting on other programs. Dee won an Obie and Drama Desk Award in 1971 for her starring role opposite James Earl Jones in the original Off Broadway production of Athol Fugard’s “Boesman and Lena.” She won another Drama Desk in 1973 for her work Off Broadway in Alice Childress’ “Wedding Band.” She played Gertrude in a 1975 Shakespeare in the Park production of “Hamlet” that starred Sam Waterston. On the bigscreen, Dee appeared in the Davis-directed “Black Girl” in 1972; she starred with Davis in the Davis-penned and -helmed 1976 film “Cool Red,” whose tagline was “A Dynamite Story of African Revolution!” Dee also starred with Poitier and Harry Belafonte in Poitier’s “Buck and the Preacher.” In 1974 the actress returned to the baseball biopic genre, co-starring with Paul Winfield in telepic “It’s Good to Be Alive,” about Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella’s recovery from a tragic accident. (Indeed, Dee couldn’t seem to get enough of baseball: In 1990 she starred in telepic “The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson,” this time as Robinson’s mother.) Dee picked up Emmy noms in 1979 for her role in “Roots: The Next Generations” and in 1988 for her part in the miniseries “Lincoln,” based on Gore Vidal’s novel. Another highlight of the period was a TV adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in which Dee starred as Mary Tyrone. The actress returned to Broadway after a long absence in 1988 with the comedy “Checkmates,” starring with Denzel Washington and Winfield. Dee and Davis were among the stars of Spike Lee’s controversial “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever.” She was also Emmy-nominated for guest roles in 1990 on “China Beach” and in 1993 on “Evening Shade.” In 2001 Dee appeared in two Off Broadway productions, “Ruby’s Eyes” and the Davis-penned “A Last Dance for Sybil.” She received the Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence at the 2002 edition of the Lucille Lortel Awards, which recognize achievements in Off Broadway theater. In her mid-80s Dee was still a busy actress, appearing in at least eight films between 2007 and 2013. In 2001 Dee and Davis shared a Grammy nomination with others for best spoken-word album for “The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets”; they won in the category in 2007 for “With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together.” Dee and Davis were awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 1995. At the presentation of their SAG life achievement award in 2001, SAG president William Daniels said: “For more than half a century, they have enriched and transformed American life as brilliant actors, writers, directors, producers and passionate advocates for social justice, human dignity and creative excellence.” Ruby Ann Wallace was born in Cleveland but grew up in Harlem and graduating from Hunter College with degrees in French and Spanish in 1944. She began her career on the stage, making her 1943 Broadway debut playing a Native in a play called “South Pacific” (not the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical). She was a replacement in the American Negro Theater-produced hit “Anna Lucasta” and toured with the show. Dee appeared in three more plays in the late 1940s that had only brief runs on Broadway, including 1946’s “Jeb.” She first met Ossie Davis, who was playing the title character in “Jeb,” at this time and married him two years later. Off Broadway she appeared in “The World of Sholom Aleichem,” stage managed by Davis, in 1953. The actress was first married to blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in the 1940s. Dee was married to Davis for 56 years until his death in 2005. She is survived by their three children: daughters Nora and Hasna and son Guy Davis, an actor, blues musician and choreographer. President Barack Obama issued the following statement about Dee: “Michelle and I were saddened to hear of the passing of actress, author, and activist Ruby Dee. In roles from Ruth Younger in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ to Mama Lucas in ‘American Gangster,’ Ruby captivated and challenged us – and Michelle and I will never forget seeing her on our first date as Mother Sister in ‘Do the Right Thing.’ Through her remarkable performances, Ruby paved the way for generations of black actors and actresses, and inspired African-American women across our country. Through her leadership in the civil rights movement she and her husband, Ossie Davis, helped open new doors of opportunity for all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ruby and Ossie’s three children, with their friends and family, and with all those who loved them dearly.” AD SAG-AFTRA released the following statement on Thursday: “SAG-AFTRA mourns the loss of SAG Life Achievement Award recipient Ruby Dee, who died yesterday at the age of 91. The multitalented Dee distinguished herself as an actor, writer and activist and received the Life Achievement Award in 2000 with husband Ossie Davis. They were only the second husband-and-wife team to win the award, the other being Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in 1985. Dee was predeceased by Davis in 2005.” SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard also released a statement: “Ruby Dee was truly one of a kind. She was a woman who believed deeply in fairness, a conviction that motivated her lifelong efforts to advance civil rights. The acting community — and the world — is a poorer place for her loss.” Born Raiford Chatman Davis, December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, GA; son of Kince Charles (a railway construction engineer) and Laura (maiden name, Cooper) Davis; married Ruby Ann Wallace (an actress and writer known as Ruby Dee), December 9, 1948; children: Nora, Guy, LaVerne. Career: Actor, playwright, director, and stage manager. Began acting career with Rose McClendon Players;chairman of the board for Institute for New Cinema Artists; founder with wife, Ruby Dee, of Emmalyn II Productions; Apollo Theatre Foundation, chair, 1999--; served on the advisory board of CORE, supports the NAACP, the Urban League, SCLC and is involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Previously worked as janitor, shipping clerk, and stock clerk in New York City, 1938-41. Militaryservice: U.S. Army, Medical Corps and Special Services, 1942-45. Member: Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, Director's Guild of America, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (advisory board), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (advisory board), Congress of Racial Equality, Masons. Awards, Honors: First Mississippi Freedom Democratic PartyCitation, 1965; Emmy Award nomination, best actor in a special, 1969, for "Teacher, Teacher," Hallmark Hall of Fame; Emmy Award nomination, c. 1978, for King; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best musical, 1970, for Purlie; Frederick Douglass Award from New York Urban League, for "distinguished leadership toward equal opportunity," 1970; Paul Robeson Citationfrom Actors' Equity Association, 1975, for "outstanding creative contributions in the performing arts and in society at large"; Coretta Scott King Book Award from American Library Association and Jane Addams Children's Book Award from Jane Addams Peace Association, 1979, both for Escape to Freedom; Jury Award from Neil Simon Awards, 1983, for "For Us the Living," American Playhouse; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award, best performance by a supporting actor, 1989, forDo the Right Thing; Hall of Fame Award for outstanding artistic achievement, 1989; Monarch Award, 1990; Inductee, Theater Hall of Fame, 1994; Lifetime Achievement Award (with Ruby Dee), Mu Read more: http://www.filmreference.com/film/70/Ossie-Davis.html#ixzz6t0l5tYme Born December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA Died February 4, 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA  (natural causes) Birth Name Raiford Chatman Davis Height 6' 2¼" (1.89 m) Mini Bio (1) Ossie Davis was born on December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA as Raiford Chatman Davis. He was an actor and writer, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and The Client (1994). He was married to Ruby Dee. He died on February 4, 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. Spouse (1) Ruby Dee (9 December 1948 - 4 February 2005) ( his death) ( 3 children) Trade Mark (1) Deep commanding voice Trivia (21) Named to NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame with his wife, Ruby Dee, in 1989. The county clerk misunderstood his mother's dialectal pronunciation of his initials "R.C." when he was born. He thought he heard "Ossie" and registered him as such. The name stuck. Was a featured speaker at the funeral of both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Lived in New Rochelle, New York. Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, along with Elton John, Joan Sutherland, John Williams, Warren Beatty and wife Ruby Dee. Had three children his with Ruby Dee: Guy Davis, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad. Was the oldest of five children. His brother, Dr. William Davis, a professor in San Antonio, TX, holds several patents, one of which is for the chemical process to produce instant mashed potatoes. Twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1958 as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "Jamaica", and in 1970 as co-author of the book for Best Musical nominee "Purlie". Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch). He and his wife Ruby Dee were awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1995 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C. Had played the father of Jennifer Beals' character on The L Word (2004). In a powerful performance, fitting of his legacy, his character died in the episode, The L Word: L-Chaim (2005). This was his final performance before his own death, and the episode was dedicated to his memory. Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 128-130. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. Broadway debut as playwright with "Purlie Victorious" in 1961. Studied drama with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem, New York City. Served in the United States Army during World War II as a medical technician. Had appeared with his wife Ruby Dee in nine films: No Way Out (1950), Gone Are the Days! (1963), The Sheriff (1971), Cool Red (1976), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), All God's Children (1980), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991) and The Stand (1994). Grandfather of Muta'Ali Muhammad. Sang with the Melloharps, a vocal group, who had "I Love Only You" on Tin Pan Alley 145 in 1955. His ashes are inurned at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York. He was a lifelong liberal Democrat. Personal Quotes (4) College ain't so much where you been as how you talk when you get back. Struggle is strengthening. Battling with evil gives us the power to battle evil even more. Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change--it can not only move us, it makes us move. I find, in being black, a thing of beauty: a joy; a strength; a secret cup of gladness. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Ossie Davis actor, writer, producer, director (born December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia; died February 4, 2005) Ruby Dee actor, writer (born October 27, 1924, in Cleveland Ohio) They are one of the most revered couples of the American stage, two of the most prolific and fearless artists in American culture. As individuals and as a team they have created profound and lasting work that has touched us all. With courage and tenacity they have thrown open many a door previously shut tight to African American artists and planted the seed for the flowering of America's multicultural humanity. "When Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were honored by the Screen Actors' Guild with its highest honor, the Life Achievement Award, SAG president William Daniels said: "For more than half a century, they have enriched and transformed American life as brilliant actors, writers, directors, producers, and passionate advocates for social justice, human dignity, and creative excellence." Ruby Dee has appeared in more than 20 films, and her notable stage appearances include roles in A Raisin in the Sun (she later reprised her performance as Ruth in the 1961 film), and Genet's The Balcony. Her acting has been honored with an Obie Award in 1971 for her performance in Athol Fugard's Boesman and Lena, a Drama Desk Award in 1972 for her role in Wedding Band, an Emmy Award for NBC's Decoration Day, and an Ace Award for her ground-braking performance as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. As Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear, she became, in 1965, the first African American woman to play major parts in the American Shakespeare Festival. She has written plays, musicals and several books of poetry, and she turned her own stories and folktales into the 1998 one-woman show, One Good Nerve. As a playwright, screenwriter, director, producer and actor, Ossie Davis' career spans more than half a century. He has written and directed films (1970's Cotton Comes to Harlem), plays (including 1961's controversial exploration of segregation, Purlie Victorious, and the book for its musical adaptation, Purlie!), and television films (For Us the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers). One of his books for young people, Escape to Freedom , won the Jane Addam's Children's Book Award. On television he has appeared in The Emperor Jones (his TV debut in 1965), "Evening Shade," "The Client," Alex Haley's Queen, "The Defenders," and "Bonanza," and has received Emmy Award nominations for Teacher, Teacher, King, and Miss Evers' Boys. His films include The Cardinal, The Hill, The Scalphunters, Grumpy Old Men, Dr. Dolittle and The Client. On stage he has given memorable performances in No Time for Sergeants, The Wisteria Trees, Green Pastures, Jamaica, Ballad for Bimshire, The Zulu and the Zayda and I'm Not Rappaport. Before they met, they already had a common goal—to make their mark on the American theater. Davis' ambition was to be a playwright and he set out on foot from his hometown in rural Georgia, to attend Howard University. He moved to New York before graduating and joined Harlem's Rose McClendon Players and studied acting with Lloyd Richards. He made his Broadway debut in 1946 in the title role of Jeb. In the cast was the young Ruby Dee, a graduate of Hunter College, who, like Davis, started her career in Harlem and was now also making her Broadway debut. Neither Davis nor Dee can remember the moment they met. The play only ran for nine performances and is now long forgotten, but the partnership it produced is a classic. Felicia R. Lee wrote in the New York Times, "Ms. Dee and Mr. Davis remain without peer in an industry not known for nurturing black people, older people, or long marriages." Their illustrious partnership has been celebrated as national treasures by the Academy of Television Arts and Science with a Silver Circle Award; by the American Theater with an induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame; and by the government of the United States with a National Medal of Arts. Following their joint stage debut, the pair toured in a production of the American Negro Theatre's Anna Lucasta and married in 1948. They also made their film debuts together in Joseph L. Mankiewicz' acclaimed tale of racial hatred, No Way Out, starring Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark. Since then they have appeared together and separately in more than 50 films, perhaps most effectively in several by Spike Lee: Jungle Fever, Get on the Bus, School Daze, Malcolm X (in which Davis—as he did in real life—delivers the moving eulogy at the funeral of the slain civil rights leader) and Do the Right Thing, about which Vincent Canby wrote in the New York Times: "Miss Dee and Mr. Davis are not only figures within the film but, they also seem to preside over it, as if ushering in a new era of black film making." Their work, in fact, has always explored and celebrated the lessons of black history in the United States, making the couple, over the decades, an inspiration and iconic presence in contemporary African American culture. In 1976, they produced and Davis directed Countdown to Kusini, the first American feature to be shot entirely in Africa by black professionals. Through their company, Emmalyn Enterprises, they produced the 1986 PBS special "Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum." Also for PBS, they created the 1980-82 series "With Ossie and Ruby," and produced "A Walk Through the Twentieth Century with Bill Moyers" in 1984. Both received the NAACP Image Awards for their 1996 CBS series "Promised Land," and delivered searing performances in Roots: The Next Generation. Their joint autobiography published in 2000, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, recounts their work together, not only in the arts, but also as artists at the forefront of political activism, ranging from their vigorous opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch hunt to their tireless work on behalf of civil rights, voting rights and equal rights for all. "We need to make the changes, do the revolutions and make things right that will make it easier for our children and grandchildren," says Dee. "Intensely committed they are to the idea that art and politics are inseparable. They both firmly believe that the arts have the capacity to make viewers more human and teach them, at least on some level, how to live (Stagebill)." Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have been teaching us how to live all our lives. September 2004 To discover the great secrets of love, art and activism, look no further than the wise and wondrous life of Ruby Dee. That's the message of filmmaker Muta'Ali Muhammad, Dee's grandson and the director of a documentary being shot about the iconic actress and trailblazer who paved the way for every working African-American artist in America. The grande dame who worked the stage, the screen — and the picket line — with equal grace just celebrated her 90th birthday and will be feted in high style Wednesday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. "And she's just as cute today as she was 50 or 60 years ago!" says ex-Mayor David Dinkins. "She's a little doll." Capping the evening will be a 30-minute screening of an excerpt from "Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee," the film depicting one of the most enduring couples of modern times, Dee and her husband of 57 years, the late Ossie Davis. "They were and always will be the quintessential lovers, artists and activists," said the 33-year-old Muhammad, who grew up on a diet of tales about close family friends like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. "And even when they found their way to the pinnacle of their professions, in Hollywood and on Broadway, they never ever lost their moral compass." Known as the "First Couple" of black America — and revered for their careers as actors, writers, memoirists, speakers, role models, blacklist victims and left-wing activists — the pair rewrote the rules of the entertainment industry: At a time when blacks were cast mostly as maids, butlers, chauffeurs and elevator operators, she became the first African-American woman to play major Shakespearean roles, while he became a ground-breaking playwright who enshrined unheralded black achievers. "They were famous for finding positive roles to represent their people in their works," Muhammad said. "They knew it was impossible as an African-American to create a work of art that doesn't reflect your culture and your race." And they were regulars at anti-war, pro-civil rights and pro-union rallies who braved arrest and harassment for what they believed in: Dee was locked up in 1999 for protesting the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, and Davis gave the eulogy for Malcolm X at his funeral in Harlem in 1965. Contemporaries like 93-year-old Pete Seeger, 85-year-old Harry Belafonte and the 85-year-old Dinkins are expected to honor Dee at the Schomburg gala. "She and Ossie put it all on the line," the ex-mayor told the Daily News. "They took risks, and they lent their names to what they believed in. You name it, they were there." The birthday bash will also host a younger generation of black stars they influenced — like 63-year-old Samuel Jackson, 56-year-old La Toya Jackson, 54-year-old Angela Bassett and 52-year-old Courtney Vance. But those too young to have seen Dee in her breakout 1959 Broadway bow in "Raisin in the Sun," or the movie version in 1961, are also coming to pay their respects. Cast members will be on hand from the two Spike Lee films in with both Dee and Davis appeared, "Do the Right Thing" in 1989 and "Jungle Fever" in 1991." Jevon (NJ) Frank, the producer of "Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee," says the documentary — like the audience at the gala — will be intergenerational. "We want to encourage viewers to have conversations with their elders — their grandmothers, their grandfathers — and not simply wish they'd had those conversations after those loved ones are gone," Frank said. Dee, a longtime breast cancer survivor, was described by her grandson as in good health — and filming in Canada as recently as last month. She wasn't immediately available. Broadway performer and film actress, Ruby Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio on October 27, 1924 to Gladys Hightower and Marshall Edward Wallace. Her mother was a domestic and her father worked as a cook, waiter, and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee’s father married Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Desperate for better job opportunities, the family moved to New York City, New York, and settled in Harlem. Determined not to allow their children fall victim to drugs, crime, and other vices of urban life, the parents introduced Dee and her siblings to the arts, including music and literature. Young Ruby became a passionate student of poetry and as a teenager began submitting poetry to The Amsterdam News. Ruby Wallace attended the academically rigorous Hunter High School and while there decided to pursue an acting career.  After graduating from Hunter High in 1940, she enrolled in Hunter College, graduating with a degree in French and Spanish in 1944. While at Hunter College, she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and married blues singer Frankie Dee.  The couple soon divorced but Dee kept the last name and made it her career name. Dee’s first major role came in 1946 when she took the title role in the American Negro Theatre Broadway production of Anna Lucasta.  It was during the production that she met her future husband Ossie Davis. The couple married in 1948 and had three children, Guy, Davis and Nora Day. Over the next decade, Dee appeared in several plays and movies beginning in 1950 as the wife of baseball great, Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story.  In 1959, she landed a starring role on Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in The Sun. She earned critical acclaim for her role of Ruth Younger, the wife of  Walter Younger, played by future academy award winner Sidney Poitier. Two years later, Dee starred in the Hollywood movie adaptation of the play. Dee’s passion for the arts mirrored her lifelong commitment to social justice and activism. From 1951 when she protested the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for treason to the 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing that took the lives of  four little girls: Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robinson, Denise McNair, and Addie Mae Collins, Dee stood for social justice.  Her views prompted her and other actors to create the Association of Artists For Freedom in 1963. Throughout the 1960s, she and her husband Ossie Davis, produced plays promoting and showcasing Black Americans and Black life in a positive light.  In the late 1960s, Dee appeared as the character Alma Miles in the popular television series Peyton Place. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dee delivered a number of first-rate performances. She earned Drama Desk and Obie Awards for her performance in the play Boesman and Lena and received an Emmy nomination for her role in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generation.  In the 1980s, Dee starred as  Harlem Renaissance writer, Zora Neale Hurston in the play Zora Is My Name. In 1989, Dee and her husband were introduced to a new generation of fans with their performances in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. Two years later, they were cast in another Spike Lee film, Jungle Fever. In 1998, Dee and Davis published Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together. The book discussed their 50 years of marriage and their dual acting careers. In 2004, Dee and Davis received Kennedy Center Honors for their distinguished careers in the entertainment industry. The following year, Ossie Davis died at the age of 85. In 2007, Dee played the mother of Denzel Washington’s character, Frank Lucas, in the film American Gangster. The performance earned Dee her first Oscar nomination at the age of 83 and made her the second oldest person ever nominated for the award. In 2008, she received the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Award. Dee continued to perform into her 80s.  Her last most recent project was narrating the film, Betty and Coretta which follows the lives of Betty Shabazz and Coretta Scott King after the deaths of their famous husbands. The movie premiered in 2013 on the Lifetime Channel and starred Angela Bassett as King and Mary J. Blige as Shabazz. Ruby Dee died in her home in New Rochelle, New York on June 11, 2014.  She was 91. Ruby Dee (born Ruby Ann Wallace; October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.[1] She originated 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). Dee was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005.[2] For her performance as Mahalee Lucas in American Gangster (2007), Dee was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role. Dee was a Grammy, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk winner. She was also a National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life and activism 4 Death 5 Work 5.1 Filmography 5.2 Television 5.3 Stage 5.4 Discography 6 Awards and nominations 7 Books 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Early life Dee was born on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio,[3] the daughter of Gladys (née Hightower) and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter and porter.[4] After her mother left the family, Dee's father remarried, to Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher.[5][6][7][8] Dee was raised in Harlem, New York.[9] Prior to attending Hunter College High School, she studied at Public Schools 119 and 136.[10] Then, she went on to graduate from Hunter College with a degree in Romance languages in 1945.[11] She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta.[12] Career Dee joined the American Negro Theater as an apprentice, working with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms.[11] She made several appearances on Broadway, such as her first role in ANT's 1946 production of Anna Lucasta.[13] 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.[9] 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.[11] Photo of a scene from the play A Raisin in the Sun. From left: Dee, (Ruth Younger); Claudia McNeil, (Lena Younger); Glynn Turman, (Travis Younger); Sidney Poitier, (Walter Younger) and John Fiedler, (Karl Lindner). During the 1960s, Dee appeared in Gone Are the Days! and The Incident. In 1969, Dee appeared in 20 episodes of Peyton Place.[9] 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.[9] Dee was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film Decoration Day.[14] 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.[9] In 1995, she and Davis were awarded the National Medal of Arts.[15] 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.[16] 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.[11][17] Dee by Carl Van Vechten, September 25, 1962 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.[18] 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.[19] 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. Perhaps, her penultimate film role is in 1982, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival[20] and was released on home video on March 1, 2016.[21] It is unknown whether her final role will ever be seen, as King Dog was in production at the time of her death,[22] and no release date has ever been announced. Personal life and activism 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.[11] Three years later she married actor Ossie Davis, whom she met while costarring in Robert Ardrey's 1946 Broadway play Jeb.[23] 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 views).[24][25] 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.[26] Dee speaking in 2006 In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dee's name and picture.[27] Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists in the Civil Rights Movement.[28] 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. She was also as an active member of the Harlem Writers Guild for over 40 years. In 1963, Dee emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[29] 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.[30] In 1970, she won the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League.[9] Dee (right) with activist and opera star Stacey Robinson in 1998. 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.[31] In early 2003, The Nation published "Not in Our 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 Clinton and Nita Lowey.[32] In 2009, she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University.[17][33] Death Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91.[34] 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, 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."[9] "She very peacefully surrendered", said her daughter Nora Day. "We hugged her, we kissed her, we gave her our permission to go. She opened her eyes. She looked at us. She closed her eyes, and she set sail." Following her death, the marquee on the Apollo Theater read: "A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922–2014".[35] Dee was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of Davis, with the inscription "In this thing together".[11] A public memorial celebration honoring Dee was held on September 20, 2014, at the Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan.[36] Their shared urn was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Work Filmography Ruby Dee and Joel Fluellen (center) in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) Year Title Role Note 1946 That Man of Mine [9] Joan First film 1947 Easy to Get [37] Drugstore girl U.S. Army venereal disease training film The Fight Never Ends [38] Jane 1948 What a Guy [38] 1950 The Jackie Robinson Story Rae Robinson No Way Out Connie Brooks Uncredited 1951 The Tall Target Rachel 1954 Go, Man, Go! Irma Jackson 1956 Mrs. Ashlow Uncredited 1957 Edge of the City Lucy Tyler 1958 St. Louis Blues Elizabeth Virgin Island Ruth 1959 Take a Giant Step Christine 1961 A Raisin in the Sun Ruth Younger 1963 The Balcony Thief Gone Are the Days! Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins 1967 The Incident Joan Robinson 1968 Up Tight! Laurie 1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis Documentary 1972 Buck and the Preacher Ruth Black Girl Netta's Mother 1973 Wattstax 1976 Countdown at Kusini [39] Leah Matanzima 1982 Cat People Female 1989 Do the Right Thing Mother Sister 1990 Love at Large Corrine Dart 1991 Jungle Fever Lucinda Purify 1993 Color Adjustment Narrator Documentary Cop and a Half Rachel 1994 The Stand Mother Abagail Freemantle 1995 Just Cause Evangeline 1996 Mr. & Mrs. Loving [40] Sophia 1997 A Simple Wish Hortense 1998 A Time to Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner Narrator Documentary[39] 1999 Baby Geniuses[39] Margo 2003 Beah: A Black Woman Speaks Herself Documentary 2006 No. 2 Nanna Maria The Way Back Home [39] Maude 2007 All About Us [39] Ms. Ella American Gangster Mama Lucas Steam Doris 2009 The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll [39] Miss Candy 2010 Laura| [41] 2011 Video Girl Valerie [42] Politics of Love [39] Grandma 'Estelle' Roseanne Gupta Red & Blue Marbles [39] Professor June Wright 2012 Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abu-Jamal [43] A Thousand Words Annie McCall [39] 2013 Betty & Coretta Narrator [44] 1982 Rose Brown Short subjects: Lorraine Hansberry: The Black Experience in the Creation of Drama (1975)[45] The Torture of Mothers (1980)[38] Tuesday Morning Ride (1995)[46] The Unfinished Journey (1999) (narrator)[47] The New Neighbors (2009) (narrator)[48] Television The Bitter Cup (1961)[40] Seven Times Monday (1962)[40] The Fugitive (1963)[40] The Great Adventure (1963) [40] Of Courtship and Marriage (1964)[40] Guiding Light (cast member in 1967)[40] Peyton Place (cast member from 1968 to 1969) Deadlock (1969)[40] The Sheriff (1971)[40] It's Good to Be Alive (1974)[40] Police Woman Season 1 / Episode 14 "Target Black" (1975) Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (miniseries)[40] I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979)[40] All God's Children (1980)[40] With Ossie and Ruby! (1980–1982)[40] Long Day's Journey into Night (1982) Go Tell It on the Mountain (1984) The Atlanta Child Murders (1985) (miniseries) Windmills of the Gods (1988)[40] Gore Vidal's Lincoln (1988)[40] The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990)[40] Decoration Day (1990)[40] Golden Girls (1990)[40] Jazztime Tale (1991) (voice)[38] Middle Ages (1992–1993) The Ernest Green Story (1993) The Stand (1994) (miniseries) Whitewash (1994) (voice)[40] Mr. and Mrs. Loving (1996)[40] Captive Heart: The James Mink Story (1996) The Wall (1998)[40] Little Bill (1999 – 2004) (voice) Passing Glory (1999) Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999) A Storm in Summer (2000)[40] Finding Buck McHenry (2000)[40] The Feast of All Saints (2001) (miniseries) Taking Back Our Town (2001)[40] Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005) Meet Mary Pleasant (2008) America (2009) Stage On Strivers Row (1940)[49] Natural Man (1941)[49] Starlight (1942)[49] Three's a Family (1943)[49] South Pacific (1943)[49] Walk Hard (1944)[49] Jeb (1946)[49] Anna Lucasta (1946) (replacement for Hilda Simms)[49] Arsenic and Old Lace (1946)[49] John Loves Mary (1946) A Long Way From Home (1948)[49] The Smile of the World (1949)[49] The World of Sholom Aleichem (1953)[49] A Raisin in the Sun (1959) Purlie Victorious (1961)[49] King Lear (1965)[49] The Taming of the Shrew (1965)[49] The Birds (1966)[49] Oresteia (1966)[49] Boesman and Lena (1970)[49] The Imaginary Invalid (1971)[49] The Wedding Band (1972)[49] Hamlet (1975)[49] Bus Stop (1979) Twin-Bit Gardens (1979)[49] Zora is My Name! (1983)[49] Checkmates (1988)[49] The Glass Menagerie (1989)[49] The Disappearance (1993)[49] Flying West (1994)[49] Two Hahs-Hahs and a Homeboy (1995)[49] My One Good Nerve: A Visit with Ruby Dee (1996)[49] A Last Dance for Sybil (2002)[49] Saint Lucy's Eyes (2003)[49] Discography This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Original Read-In for Peace in Vietnam (Folkways Records, 1967)[50] The Poetry of Langston Hughes (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, no date, TC 1272)[51] Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (with George Grizzard. Caedmon Records, 1970, TC 1324) Tough Poems For Tough People (with Ossie Davis and Henry Braun. Caedmon Records, 1972, TC 1396) To Make A Poet Black: The best poems of Countee Cullen (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1971, TC 1400 To Be A Slave (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1972, TC 2066) The Lost Zoo, (Caedmon Records, 1978, TC 1539) Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears and Other Tales with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1978, TC 1592) What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 1: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)[52] What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 2: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)[53] Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)[54] American Short Stories, Vol 2: Various Artists(eav Lexington, no date, LE 7703) American Short Stories, Vol 3: Various Artists (eav Lexington, no date, LE 7704) I've got a name, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1968, CSM 662) At your own risk, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1968, CSM 663) Conflict, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1969, CSM 816) Sight lines, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1970, SBN 03-071525-3) Roses & Revolutions, Various Artist (D.S.T. Telecommunications, Inc., Production, 1975) New Dimensions in Music (with John Cullum. CBS Records, 1976, P 13161) Awards and nominations Awards 1961: National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress – A Raisin in the Sun[55] 1971: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Boesman and Lena[56] 1971: Obie Award for Best Performance by an Actress – Boesman and Lena[23][56] 1973: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Wedding Band[23] 1988: Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame[57] 1991: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie – Decoration Day[11] 1991: Women in Film Crystal Award[58] 1995: National Medal of Arts[56] 2000: Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award[59] 2003: Women of Vision Award - Women in Film & Video-DC [60] 2007: Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together (tied with Jimmy Carter)[11][61] 2008: African–American Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster[62] 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – American Gangster[29][63] 2008: The Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award[64] 2008: She was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.[65] Nominations 1964: Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – The Doctors and the Nurses: Express Stop from Lenox Avenue[40] 1979: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special – Roots: The Next Generations[56] 1988: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special – Lincoln[56] 1990: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series – China Beach: Skylark[56] 1993: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – Evening Shade: They Can't Take That Away from Me[56] 1995: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Whitewash[40] 2001: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Little Bill[66] 2002: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress – Saint Lucy's Eyes[56] 2003: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Little Bill[67] 2008: Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – American Gangster[56] 2008: Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – American Gangster[63] 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture – American Gangster[11] 2009: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries – America[68] 2010: Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Event – America[69] Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist.[1][2][3] He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death.[4] He and his wife were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame; were awarded the National Medal of Arts[5] and were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Honors 4 Activism 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Filmography 7.1 Film 7.2 Television 7.3 Directing 8 Theatre 9 Discography 10 Bibliography 11 References 12 External links Early life Raiford Chatman Davis was born in Cogdell, Georgia, the son of Kince Charles Davis, a railway construction engineer, and his wife Laura (née Cooper; July 9, 1898 – June 6, 2004).[6][7] He inadvertently became known as "Ossie" when his birth certificate was being filed and his mother's pronunciation of his name as "R. C. Davis" was misheard by the courthouse clerk in Clinch County, Ga.[8] Davis experienced racism from an early age when the KKK threatened to shoot his father, whose job they felt was too advanced for a black man to have. His siblings included scientist William Conan Davis, social worker Essie Morgan Davis, pharmacist Kenneth Curtis Davis, and biology teacher James Davis.[9] Following the wishes of his parents, he attended Howard University but dropped out in 1939 to fulfill his desire for an acting career in New York after a recommendation by Alain Locke; he later attended Columbia University School of General Studies. His acting career began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem. During World War II, Davis served in the United States Army in the Medical Corps. He made his film debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. Career photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1951 When Davis wanted to pursue a career in acting, he ran into the usual roadblocks that black people suffered at that time as they generally could only portray stereotypical characters such as Stepin Fetchit. Instead, he tried to follow the example of Sidney Poitier and play more distinguished characters. When he found it necessary to play a Pullman porter or a butler, he played those characters realistically, not as a caricature. In addition to acting, Davis, along with Melvin Van Peebles and Gordon Parks, was one of the notable black directors of his generation: he directed movies such as Gordon's War, Black Girl and Cotton Comes to Harlem. Along with Bill Cosby and Poitier, Davis was one of a handful of black actors able to find commercial success while avoiding stereotypical roles prior to 1970, which also included a significant role in the 1965 movie The Hill alongside Sean Connery plus roles in The Cardinal and The Scalphunters. However, Davis never had the tremendous commercial or critical success that Cosby and Poitier enjoyed. As a playwright, Davis wrote Paul Robeson: All-American, which is frequently performed in theatre programs for young audiences. In 1976, Davis appeared on Muhammad Ali's novelty album for children, The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay.[10] Ossie Davis at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. Davis found recognition late in his life by working in several of director Spike Lee's films, including Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, She Hate Me and Get on the Bus. He also found work as a commercial voice-over artist and served as the narrator of the early-1990s CBS sitcom Evening Shade, starring Burt Reynolds, where he also played one of the residents of a small southern town. In 1999, Davis appeared as a theater caretaker in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra film The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, which was released on DVD two years later. For many years, he hosted the annual National Memorial Day Concert from Washington, DC. He voiced Anansi the spider on the PBS children's television series Sesame Street in its animation segments. Davis's last role was a several episode guest role on the Showtime drama series The L Word, as a father struggling with the acceptance of his daughter Bette (Jennifer Beals) parenting a child with her lesbian partner. In his final episodes, his character was taken ill and died. His wife Ruby Dee was present during the filming of his own death scene. That episode, which aired shortly after Davis's own death, aired with a dedication to the actor.[11] After Davis's passing, actor Dennis Haysbert portrayed him in the 2015 film Experimenter. Honors In 1989, Ossie Davis and his wife, actress/activist Ruby Dee, were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame. In 1995, they were awarded the National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the country and presented in a White House ceremony by the President of the United States.[12] In 2004, they were recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors.[13] According to the Kennedy Center Honors: "The Honors recipients recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts— whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television — are selected by the Center's Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; the selection process, over the years, has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines."[14] In 1994, Davis was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.[15] Activism Davis with activist and opera star Stacey Robinson (left) in 1998. Davis and Dee were well known as civil rights activists during the Civil Rights Movement and were close friends of Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and other icons of the era. They were involved in organizing the 1963 civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and served as its emcees. Davis, alongside Ahmed Osman, delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Malcolm X.[16] He re-read part of this eulogy at the end of Spike Lee's film Malcolm X. He also delivered a stirring tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, at a memorial in New York's Central Park the day after King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Personal life Davis and Dee In 1948, Davis married actress Ruby Dee, whom he had met on the set of Robert Ardrey's 1946 play Jeb. In their joint autobiography With Ossie and Ruby, they described their decision to have an open marriage, later changing their minds.[17] In the mid-1960s they moved to the New York suburb of New Rochelle, where they remained ever after.[18] Their son Guy Davis is a blues musician and former actor, who appeared in the film Beat Street (1984) and the daytime soap opera One Life to Live. Their daughters are Nora Davis Day and Hasna Muhammad. Death Davis was found dead in a Miami hotel room on February 4, 2005. An official cause of death was not released, but he was known to have had heart problems.[19] Filmography Film No Way Out (1950) as John Brooks (uncredited) Fourteen Hours (1951) as Cab Driver (uncredited) The Joe Louis Story (1953) as Bob (uncredited) Gone Are the Days! (aka Purlie Victorious) (1963) as Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson The Cardinal (1963) as Father Gillis Shock Treatment (1964) as Capshaw The Hill (1965) as Jacko King A Man Called Adam (1966) as Nelson Davis Silent Revolution (1967) The Scalphunters (1968) as Joseph Lee Sam Whiskey (1969) as Jed Hooker Slaves (1969) as Luke Wattstax (1973) as Himself (uncredited) Let's Do It Again (1975) as Elder Johnson Countdown at Kusini (1976) as Ernest Motapo Hot Stuff (1979) as Captain John Geiberger Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Loved the Stars (1979)[20] Harry & Son (1984) as Raymond The House of God (1984) as Dr. Sanders Avenging Angel (1985) as Captain Harry Moradian School Daze (1988) as Coach Odom Do the Right Thing (1989) as Da Mayor Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) as Marshall Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991, Documentary) as Himself Jungle Fever (1991) as The Good Reverend Doctor Purify Gladiator (1992) as Noah Malcolm X (1992) as Eulogy Performer (voice) Cop and a Half (1993) as Detective in Squad Room (uncredited) Grumpy Old Men (1993) as Chuck The Client (1994) as Harry Roosevelt Get on the Bus (1996) as Jeremiah I'm Not Rappaport (1996) as Midge Carter 4 Little Girls (1997, Documentary) as Himself - Actor and Playwright Dr. Dolittle (1998) as Archer Dolittle Alyson's Closet (1998, Short) as Postman Extraordinaire The Unfinished Journey (1999, Documentary, Short) as Narration (voice) The Gospel According to Mr. Allen (2000, Documentary) as Narrator Dinosaur (2000) as Yar (voice) Here's to Life! (2000) as Duncan Cox Voice of the Voiceless (2001, Documentary) as Himself Why Can't We Be a Family Again? (2002, Documentary, Short) as Narrator (voice) Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) as Jack Unchained Memories (2003, Documentary) as Reader #6 Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003, Documentary) as Himself Beah: A Black Woman Speaks (2003, Documentary) as Himself BAADASSSSS! (2003) as Granddad She Hate Me (2004) as Judge Buchanan Proud (2004) as Lorenzo DuFau A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho (2005, Documentary) Television The Emperor Jones (1955, TV Movie) as Brutus Jones Seven Times Monday (1962, TV Movie) as Will Car 54 Where Are You? (1962-1963) as Officer Omar Anderson The Fugitive (1966) as Lieutenant Johnny Gaines 12 O'Clock High (1967) as Major Glenn Luke Bonanza: The Wish (1969) as Sam Davis Night Gallery (1969) as Osmund Portifoy Hawaii Five-O (1974) as Ramon Borelle The Sheriff (1971, TV Movie) as Sheriff James Lucas The Tenth Level (1976, TV Movie) as Reed Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid (1977, TV Movie) as Dr. Fredericks King (1978, TV Mini-Series) as Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. Roots: The Next Generations (1979, TV Mini-Series) as Dad Jones Freedom Road (1979, TV Movie) as Narrator All God's Children (1980, TV Movie) as Blaine Whitfield Ossie and Ruby! (1980) as Co-host (1980-1981) Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige (1981, TV Movie) as Chuffy Russell Death of a Prophet (1981, TV Movie) as Himself Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Loved the Stars (1989)[21] B.L. Stryker (1989–1990) as 'Oz' Jackson We'll Take Manhattan (1990, TV Movie) as Man in Subway Evening Shade (1990–1994) as Ponder Blue Alex Haley's Queen (1993, TV Mini-Series) as Parson Dick The Ernest Green Story (1993, TV Movie) as Grandfather The Stand (1994, TV Mini-Series) as Judge Richard Farris Ray Alexander (1995, TV Movie) as Uncle Phil The Android Affair (1995, TV Movie) as Dr. Winston The Client (1995–1996) as Judge Harry Roosevelt Home of the Brave (1996, TV Movie) as Erasmus Jones Promised Land (1996–1998) as Erasmus Jones Touched By An Angel (1996–2002) as Erasmus Jones / Gabriel / Gabe Miss Evers' Boys (1997, TV Movie) as Mr. Evers 12 Angry Men (1997, TV Movie) as Juror #2 The Secret Path (1999, TV Movie) as 'Too Tall' The Soul Collector (1999, TV Movie) as Mordecai The Ghosts of Christmas Eve (1999, TV Movie) as The Caretaker A Vow to Cherish (1999, TV Movie) as Alexander Billman Between the Lions (1999–2005) Finding Buck McHenry (2000, TV Movie) as Buck McHenry Legend of the Candy Cane (2001, TV Movie) as Julius (voice) The Feast of All Saints (2001, TV Movie) as Jean-Jacques Persidio Med (2002) as Otis Clayton Deacons for Defense (2003, TV Movie) as Reverend Gregory JAG (2003) as Terrence Minnerly The L Word (2004–2005) as Melvin Porter (final appearance) Directing Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Black Girl (1972) Gordon's War (1973) Kongi's Harvest (1973) Countdown at Kusini (1976) Crown Dick (1987 TV movie) Theatre Joy Exceeding Glory (1939) On Strivers Row (1940) Booker T. Washington (1940) Black Women in White (1941) Jeb (1946) Anna Lucasta (1946) (replacement for Earle Hyman) The Leading Lady (1948) The Washington Years (1948) The Smile of the World (1949) Stevedore (1949) The Wisteria Trees (1950) The Royal Family (1951) The Green Pastures (1951) Remains to Be Seen (1951) Touchstone (1953) The Wisteria Trees (1955) No Time for Sergeants (1956) (replacement for Earle Hyman) Jamaica (1957) A Raisin in the Sun (1959) (replacement for Sidney Poitier) Purlie Victorious (1961) Ballad for Bimshire (1963) A Treasury of Negro World Writing (1964) The Talking Skull (1965) The Zulu and the Zayda (1965) Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1972) Take It from the Top (1979) Zora is My Name! (1983) I'm Not Rappaport (1986) (replacement for Cleavon Little) A Celebration of Paul Robeson (1988) (benefit concert) Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy (1995) Discography Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, Vol. 1: (Folkways Records, 1966) Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, Vol. 2: (Folkways, 1966) Frederick Douglass' The Meaning of July 4 for the Negro: (Folkways, 1975) Frederick Douglass' Speeches inc. The Dred Scott Decision: (Folkways, 1976)
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