Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, and activist

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun (film)

A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 drama film starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett. The adaptation was based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry....

(1961) and the film American Gangster (2007) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

.

Early years

Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, the daughter of Gladys Hightower and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter, and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee's father married Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Dee grew up in Harlem, New York. She attended Hunter College High School

Hunter College High School

Hunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York. Although it is not operated by the New York City Department of...

 and went on to graduate from Hunter College

Hunter College

Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...

 with degrees in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 in 1944. Dee is a member of Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...

 Sorority, Inc.

Career

Dee made several appearances on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 before receiving national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story

The Jackie Robinson Story

The Jackie Robinson Story is a 1950 biographical film starring baseball legend Jackie Robinson as himself. The film focuses on Robinson's struggle with the abuse of racist bigots as he becomes the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era...

. Her career in acting has crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes...

, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City

Edge of the City

Edge of the City is a 1957 drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's debut film as a director...

. She played both roles opposite Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

. 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.

She appeared in one episode of The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...

 sixth season. Dee has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 Decoration Day

Decoration Day (film)

Decoration Day is a 1990 film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. The award-winning made-for-TV movie was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia.-Plot:...

. She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach

China Beach

China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...

 episode, "Skylark". Her husband Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...

 (1917–2005) also appeared in that episode. In 1995, she and her husband were awarded the National Medal of Arts

National Medal of Arts

The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...

. They were also recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors

Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...

 in 2004.

In 2003, Ruby Dee also narrated a series of WPA slave narratives in the HBO film Unchained Memories, according to IMDB

In 2007 the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word...

 was tied between Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She won the SAG award for the same performance. At 83 years old, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart

Gloria Stuart

Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress, activist, painter, bonsai artist and fine printer. Over a Hollywood career which spanned, with a long break in the middle, from 1932 until 2004, she appeared on stage, television, and film, for which she was best-known...

 who was 87 when nominated for her role in Titanic

Titanic (1997 film)

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

. This was Dee's first nomination.

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

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Under the direction of Maurice Peress

Maurice Peress

Maurice Peress is an American orchestra conductor, educator and author. After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand as leader of the orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1962. In 1970, he also became leader...

, they performed Earl Robinson

Earl Robinson

Earl Hawley Robinson was a singer-songwriter and composer from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is probably as well remembered for his left-leaning political views as he is for his music, including the songs "Joe Hill", "Black and White", and the cantata "Ballad for Americans"...

's "The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra" in which Dee was the Narrator.

Personal life and activism

Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee in the mid 1940s but later divorced him and married actor Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...

.

Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discuss their political activism as well as insights on their open marriage

Open marriage

Open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. There are many different styles of open marriage, with the partners having varying levels of input on their spouse's...

. Together they had three children; son, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad. Dee has survived breast cancer

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 for more than 30 years.

Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists. Among others, Dee is a member of Congress of Racial Equality

Congress of Racial Equality

The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...

 (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...

, Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...

 sorority and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...

. Dee and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

 and Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...

, with Davis giving the eulogy

Eulogy

A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...

 at Malcom's funeral in 1965.

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, TN. Dee, who is a long time resident of New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...

, was inducted into the Westchester County

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...

 Women’s Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007 joining the ranks with past honorees, Hillary Clinton, Sally Ziegler and Nita Lowey

Nita Lowey

Nita Melnikoff Lowey is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She previously represented the 20th district from 1989 to 1993.-Early life, education and career:...

. In 2009 she received an Honorary Degree from Princeton University.

Filmography

Features:

• That Man of Mine (1946)
• What a Guy (1948)
• The Fight Never Ends (1949)
• The Jackie Robinson Story
  The Jackie Robinson Story
  The Jackie Robinson Story is a 1950 biographical film starring baseball legend Jackie Robinson as himself. The film focuses on Robinson's struggle with the abuse of racist bigots as he becomes the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era...
  
  (1950)
• No Way Out
  No Way Out (1950 film)
  No Way Out is a black-and-white film noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and Sidney Poitier...
  
  (1950)
• The Tall Target
  The Tall Target
  The Tall Target is a 1951 thriller film starring Dick Powell as a detective who tries to stop the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on a train taking the newly-elected president to his inauguration...
  
  (1951)
• Go, Man, Go!
  Go, Man, Go!
  Go, Man, Go! is a 1954 sports film starring Dane Clark, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Patricia Breslin and The Harlem Globetrotters. Clark plays Abe Saperstein, the organizer of the Globetrotters. Poitier's character is Inman Jackson, the team's showboating center...
  
  (1954)
• The Great American Pastime (1956)
• Edge of the City
  Edge of the City
  Edge of the City is a 1957 drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's debut film as a director...
  
  (1957)
• Virgin Island
  Virgin Island (film)
  Virgin Island is a 1959 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring John Cassavetes, Virginia Maskell and Sidney Poitier. It is an adaptation of the novel Our Virgin Island by Robb White...
  
  (1958)
• St. Louis Blues
  St. Louis Blues (1958 film)
  St. Louis Blues is a 1958 film broadly based on the life of W. C. Handy. It starred jazz and blues greats Nat "King" Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, and Barney Bigard, as well as gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and actress Ruby Dee...
  
  (1958)
• Take a Giant Step (1959)
• A Raisin in the Sun
  A Raisin in the Sun (film)
  A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 drama film starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett. The adaptation was based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry....
  
  (1961)
• Purlie Victorious (1961)
• The Balcony
  The Balcony (film)
  The Balcony is a 1963 cinematic adaptation of Jean Genet's play The Balcony, directed by Joseph Strick. It starred Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant and Leonard Nimoy. George J. Folsey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Ben Maddow was nominated for a Writers Guild of...
  
  (1963)
• Gone Are the Days!
  Purlie
  Purlie is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious, which was later made into the 1963 film Gone Are the Days! and which included all of the original Broadway cast, including Ruby...
  
  (1963)
• The Incident (1967)
• Up Tight!
  Up Tight!
  Up Tight! is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer, but the setting was transposed from Dublin, Ireland to Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T...
  
  (1968)
• King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) (documentary)
• Buck and the Preacher
  Buck and the Preacher
  Buck and the Preacher is a 1972 American Western film starring Sidney Poitier as Buck and Harry Belafonte as the Preacher. Buck is a trail guide leading groups of former slaves trying to homestead in the West, immediately after the American Civil War. The Preacher is a swindling minister of the...
  
  (1972)
• Black Girl
  Black Girl (play)
  Black Girl is a play by American playwright J. E. Franklin. It was first produced on public television in 1969, followed by an off-Broadway production in 1971. It was later adapted by the playwright as a feature film that was released the following year....
  
  (1972)
• Wattstax
  Wattstax
  Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African American community of Watts in Los Angeles, California. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974...
  
  (1973)
• Countdown at Kusini (1976)
• Cat People
  Cat People (1982 film)
  Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Larroquette. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer...
  
  (1982)
• Do the Right Thing
  Do the Right Thing
  Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...
  
  (1989)
• Love at Large
  Love at Large
  Love at Large is a 1990 romance and mystery film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Tom Berenger.-Plot:Set in a present that feels more like the past, Harry Dobbs is a private detective surrounded by mysterious and dangerous dames...
  
  (1990)
• Jungle Fever
  Jungle Fever
  Jungle Fever is a 1991 American drama film directed by Spike Lee, starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra. It was Lee's fifth feature-length film. The film mainly explores interracial relationships...
  
  (1991)
• Color Adjustment
  Color Adjustment
  Color Adjustment is a 1992 documentary film that traces the evolution of the black image in television from the explicitly racist 1948 to more subtle 1988, where blacks are portrayed as wealthy and having achieved the American dream, an image that director Marlon Riggs finds inconsistent with reality...
  
  (1992) (documentary) (narrator)
• Cop and a Half (1993)
• The Stand
  The Stand
  The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
  
  (1994)
• A Simple Wish
  A Simple Wish
  A Simple Wish is a 1997 fantasy-comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring Martin Short, Mara Wilson, and Kathleen Turner. The film about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray , who tries to help eight-year-old Annabel fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, wins the...
  
  (1997)
• Just Cause
  Just Cause (film)
  Just Cause is a 1995 film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.-Plot:...
  
  (1995)
• Mr. & Mrs. Loving (1996)
• A Time to Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner (1998) (documentary) (narrator)
• Baby Geniuses
  Baby Geniuses
  Baby Geniuses is a 1999 family-oriented comedy film directed by Bob Clark, rated PG for "some rude behavior and dialogue". It stars Kathleen Turner and Christopher Lloyd....
  
  (1999)
• Baby of the Family (2002)
• Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003) (documentary) (narrator)
• Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
  Beah Richards
  Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was a poet, playwright and author....
  
  (2003) (documentary)
• No. 2 (2006)
• The Way Back Home (2006)
• Lockdown, USA (2006) (documentary) (narrator)
• All About Us (2007)
• American Gangster (2007)
• Steam (2007)
• The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
  The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
  The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll is a music-themed drama film starring Kevin Zegers and Jason Ritter and directed by Scott Rosenbaum. The screenplay was written by Scott Rosenbaum and Jasin Cadic...
  
  (2009)
• A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School (2009) (documentary) (narrator)
• Dream Street (2010)
• Red & Blue Marbles (2010)
• Video Girl (2010)
• Drama Mamas! (2010) (documentary)
• The Middle of Nowhere (2010)
• Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2010) (documentary)

Short subjects:

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

Television

• The First Year (1946)
• Seven Times Monday (1962)
• The Fugitive (TV series)
  The Fugitive (TV series)
  The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
  
  (1963)
• Guiding Light
  Guiding Light
  Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
  
  (cast member in 1967)
• Peyton Place
  Peyton Place (TV series)
  Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
  
  (cast member from 1968–1969)
• Deadlock (1969)
• The Sheriff (1971)
• Chelsea D.H.O. (1973) (unsold pilot)
• It's Good to Be Alive
  Roy Campanella
  Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
  
  (1974)
• Roots: The Next Generations
  Roots: The Next Generations
  Roots: The Next Generations is a 1979 television miniseries that continues the story of the family of Alex Haley from the 1880s, and their life in Henning, Tennessee, to the 1960s, with Haley researching his family history and his travels to Africa to learn of his ancestor, Kunta Kinte...
  
  (1979) (miniseries)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma...
  
  (1979)
• All God's Children (1980)
• Ossie and Ruby! (1980–1982)
• Long Day's Journey into Night
  Long Day's Journey Into Night
  Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
  
  (1982)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain
  Go Tell It on the Mountain (novel)
  Go Tell It on the Mountain is a 1953 semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin. The novel examines the role of the Christian Church in the lives of African-Americans, both as a source of repression and moral hypocrisy and as a source of inspiration and community...
  
  (1985)
• The Atlanta Child Murders
  The Atlanta Child Murders (TV miniseries)
  The Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS. Inspired by true events, the miniseries examines the so-called "Atlanta child murders" of the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Cast:*Calvin Levels - Wayne Williams...
  
  (1985) (miniseries)
• Windmills of the Gods
  Windmills of the Gods
  Windmills of the Gods is a 1987 thriller novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon.-Plot summary:Mary Ashley, a professor at Kansas State University, is offered an ambassadorship by Paul Ellison, the US president. She rejects the offer because her husband, Dr. Edward Ashley, does not want to leave...
  
  (1988)
• Lincoln
  Lincoln (novel)
  Lincoln is a historical novel, part of the Narratives of Empire series by Gore Vidal.Set during the American Civil War, the novel describes the presidency of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of several historical figures, including presidential secretary John Hay, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln,...
  
  (1988)
• The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990)
• Decoration Day
  Decoration Day (film)
  Decoration Day is a 1990 film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. The award-winning made-for-TV movie was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia.-Plot:...
  
  (1990)
• Golden Girls (1990)
• Jazztime Tale (1991) (voice)
• Middle Ages (1992–1993)
• The Ernest Green Story
  The Ernest Green Story
  The Ernest Green Story is a made-for-television movie which follows the true story of Ernest Green and eight other African American high school students as they embark on their historic journey to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.Much of the movie was...
  
  (1993)
• The Stand
  The Stand (TV miniseries)
  # Project Blue [1:33]# The Dream Begins [2:08]# On the Road to Kansas [3:57]# The Trashmen in Vegas [1:58]# Headin' West [1:56]# Larry & Nadine [2:38]# Mother Abigail [3:10]# 'Sorry Mister, I Don't Understand' [2:54]# Mid Country [3:22]...
  
  (1994) (miniseries)
• Whitewash (1994) (voice)
• Mr. and Mrs. Loving
  Loving v. Virginia
  Loving v. Virginia, , was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v...
  
  (1996)
• Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
  James Mink
  James Mink was the son of a freed American slave who became a respected millionaire businessman in Toronto, Canada in the 1850s, working as a livery owner and budding politician.Mink married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth, and had one daughter, Mary...
  
  (1996)
• The Wall (1998)
• Little Bill (1999 - on hiatus) (voice)
• Passing Glory
  Passing Glory
  Passing Glory is a 1999 basketball-drama film, written by Harold Sylvester, and directed by Steve James. This movie stars Andre Braugher, Rip Torn, and Sean Squire. The film also features a speaking role by Arthur Agee, the subject of the documentary "Hoop Dreams", also directed by Steve James...
  
  (1999)
• Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
  Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (film)
  Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years is a 1999 American television movie directed by Lynne Littman. The film is an adaptation of the 1993 New York Times bestselling oral history written by Sarah L. Delany, A. Elizabeth Delany, and journalist Amy Hill Hearth. The telefilm adaptation...
  
  (1999)
• A Storm in Summer (2000)
• Finding Buck McHenry (2000)
• The Feast of All Saints (2001) (miniseries)
• Taking Back Our Town (2001)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005)
• Meet Mary Pleasant
  Mary Ellen Pleasant
  Mary Ellen Pleasant was a 19th Century female entrepreneur of partial African descent widely known as Mammy Pleasant, who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement. She worked on the Underground Railroad across many states and then helped bring it to California during the Gold Rush Era...
  
  (2008)
• America
  America (2009 film)
  America is a 2009 Lifetime Television film starring Rosie O’Donnell, Ruby Dee and Philip Johnson. It was directed by Yves Simoneau and written by Joyce Eliason. The film is based on the young adult novel America by E.R...
  
  (2009)

Stage productions

• South Pacific
  South Pacific (musical)
  South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
  
  (1943)
• Anna Lucasta (1944)
• Jeb (1946)
• A Long Way From Home (1948)
• The Smile of the World (1949)
• A Raisin in the Sun
  A Raisin in the Sun
  A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes...
  
  (1959)
• Purlie Victorious (1961)
• Checkmates (1988)
• The Glass Menagerie
  The Glass Menagerie
  The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
  
  (1989)

Discography

• The Original Read-In for Peace in Vietnam (Folkways Records
  Folkways Records
  Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
  
  , 1967)
• The Poetry of Langston Hughes (with Ossie Davis
  Ossie Davis
  Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
  
  . Caedmon Records, no date, TC 1272)
• What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 1: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)
• What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 2: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)
• Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
  
  , 2001)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1961: National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress – A Raisin in the Sun
• 1971: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Boesman and Lena
  Boesman and Lena
  Boesman and Lena is a play by South Africa's Athol Fugard.The play was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa. He noticed an old lady walking along the road in the boiling-hot sun, miles from anywhere, and offered her a lift. She was overcome and...
  
  
• 1971: Obie Award for Best Performance by an Actress – Boesman and Lena
  Boesman and Lena
  Boesman and Lena is a play by South Africa's Athol Fugard.The play was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa. He noticed an old lady walking along the road in the boiling-hot sun, miles from anywhere, and offered her a lift. She was overcome and...
  
  
• 1973: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Wedding Band
• 1991: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini–Series or TV Movie – Decoration Day
  Decoration Day (film)
  Decoration Day is a 1990 film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. The award-winning made-for-TV movie was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia.-Plot:...
  
  
• 1991: Women in Film Crystal Award
• 2001: Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2007: Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album- With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together
• 2008: African–American Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster
• 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – American Gangster
• 2008: The Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award

Nominations

• 1993: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – Evening Shade
  Evening Shade
  Evening Shade was an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long...
  
  
• 2002: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress – Saint Lucy's Eyes
• 2008: Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – American Gangster
• 2008: Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – American Gangster
• 2008: Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster
• 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture – American Gangster
• 2009: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries - America
  America (2009 film)
  America is a 2009 Lifetime Television film starring Rosie O’Donnell, Ruby Dee and Philip Johnson. It was directed by Yves Simoneau and written by Joyce Eliason. The film is based on the young adult novel America by E.R...
  
  
• 2010: Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Event - America
  America (2009 film)
  America is a 2009 Lifetime Television film starring Rosie O’Donnell, Ruby Dee and Philip Johnson. It was directed by Yves Simoneau and written by Joyce Eliason. The film is based on the young adult novel America by E.R...
  
  

External links

• The official site of Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee
• Archive of American Television interview
• Ruby Dee at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  Lortel Archives
  The Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway.The archives are named in honor of actress and theatrical producer Lucille Lortel.-See also:...
  
  
• Ruby Dee's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Notable Alumni of Hunter College High School on Wikipedia
• Ruby Dee Discography at Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...