Beah Richards

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beah Richards (born July 12, 1920 in Vicksburg , Mississippi , USA ; † September 14, 2000 there ; actually: Beulah Richardson ) was an American film and theater actress and author .

biography

Beah Richards was born into a modest family; her father was a Baptist preacher and her mother a seamstress. Due to the lack of financial support, Richards was only able to graduate from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1948, before moving to New York City in 1950 .

Because Richards was black, it was difficult for her to gain a foothold in America at the time of the prevalent racial discrimination in the theater. Mostly she gave an extra or a supporting role. It wasn't until 1955 that she made her breakthrough on Broadway in the play Take a Giant Step . Here the 35-year-old embodied an 84-year-old grandmother - and this without mask effects. When the play was adapted into a film in 1959, Richards was also engaged; it was after her film debut - 1958 in The Mugger - Richards' second film.

In James Baldwin's play The Amen Corner , staged by Frank Silvera in 1962 , Richards played a nun, and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1965.

In 1967, Richards stood in Guess Who Comes to Dinner in front of the camera and was nominated for both an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of film mother Sidney Poitiers in 1968 .

In the following years, Richards was mostly in front of the camera in television series, be it 1989 to 1990 in LA Law or 1991 in All Under One Roof . Her best-known films included the comedy film Homer and Eddie, produced in 1989 . Their last major film role she took over in the years 1994 to 1995 when she in eight episodes of ER, the film Mother Eriq La Salle aka Dr. Peter Benton embodied.

She was one of the few actresses fighting for her right to be called "black", even though the common term at the time was " negro ". She published three books in which she put poems on paper and whose titles had to come across as very provocative. One is A Crowd , A Black Woman Speaks, and A Black Woman Speaks and Other Poems .

Despite the numerous parenting roles she slipped into, Richards had no children herself. She was also married to African American sculptor Hugh Harrell Jr. for only three years .

She died of emphysema in September 2000 at the age of 80 .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Richards, Beah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richardson, Beulah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and stage actress and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Vicksburg , Mississippi , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 2000
Place of death Vicksburg , Mississippi , USA