Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
Film & TV
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Do the Right Thing (1989) and American Gangster (2007).
Known for
- Love in Exile2026
- Hollywood Black — Self (archive footage)2024
- Poitier's Walter Lee — Self (archive footage)2018
- Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee — Self2014
- Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal — Self2013
- Betty and Coretta — Narrator2013
- A Thousand Words — Annie McCall2012
- Politics of Love2011
- Video Girl — Valerie2011
- The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll — Miss Candy2011
via TMDB
Key facts
- Born
- Ruby Ann Wallace , ( 1922-10-27 ) October 27, 1922, Cleveland , Ohio , U.S.
- Died
- June 11, 2014 (2014-06-11) (aged 91), New Rochelle, New York , U.S.
- Resting place
- Ferncliff Cemetery
- Alma mater
- Hunter College (1945)
- Occupation
- Actress
- Years active
- 1940–2013
- Spouses
- Frankie Dee Brown ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1941 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1945 ) Ossie Davis , ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1948 ; died 2005 )
- Children
- 3, including Guy Davis
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Ruby
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Cleveland
- Place of death
- New Rochelle
- Spouse
- Ossie Davis
- Occupation
- actor
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Image
- Ruby Dee - 1972.jpg
Show 11 more facts
- Commons category
- Ruby Dee
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- date of birth
- 1922-10-27
- date of death
- 2014-06-11
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
- cause of death
- disease
- start of work period
- 1940-00-00
- end of work period
- 2014-00-00
- place of burial
- Ferncliff Cemetery
- manner of death
- natural causes
Sources (10)
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ruby Dee (born Ruby Ann Wallace; October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress. She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005. She received numerous accolades, including an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1995, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2000, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
Dee started her career with the American Negro Theatre. She made her Broadway debut in South Pacific (1943). She met her future husband working together on the play Jeb (1946). She originated the Broadway roles of Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) and reprised the role in the 1961 film and Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins in the Ossie Davis play Purlie Victorious (1961) and reprised the role in the 1963 film.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ruby Dee” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.