Louise Beavers

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Louise Beavers (born March 8, 1902 in Cincinnati , Ohio , † October 26, 1962 in Hollywood , California ) was an American actress of African American origin.

Life

The African American Louise Beavers was born to a school teacher in Ohio. Because of her mother's illness, she moved with her family to Pasadena , California, where she sang in the church choir, among other things. After graduating from school in 1920, she worked for a photographer as a dressing room attendant and as a maid for the silent film star Leatrice Joy . In addition to her work, Beavers was a member of the Lady Ministrels , a group of young amateur actresses who performed plays together. In one of these performances, Hollywood agent Charles Butler watched her and persuaded Beavers to pursue a film career. Although she was actually dissatisfied with the stereotypical portrayal of African Americans in films, she made her film debut in an early film adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1927 . Beavers first received attention in 1929 when she appeared next to Mary Pickford in Coquette . In it she played the maternal servant of a white woman.

The small, corpulent actress, like Hattie McDaniel , was mostly used in "Mammie" roles in the 1930s and 1940s - as a somewhat noisy but good-natured and caring servant, cook or slave. After numerous roles, both large and small, Louise Beavers had her final breakthrough in 1934: In the film Imitation of Life , she played one of the few leading roles in her career as Claudette Colbert's loyal and valuable employee Delilah, who dies of grief after her fairer-skinned daughter takes her because of the Has denied and abandoned skin color. It was considered the first time in American cinema history that a major film paid much attention to the character and concerns of an African American character. Beavers received excellent reviews for the role but not an Oscar nomination - according to some critics, because it was black. In the following years she played supporting roles in Hollywood films such as No Place for Parents (1937), An Ideal Couple (1939), Music, Music (1942) and Just for My Wife (1948).

In the 1950s, Beavers made fewer and fewer films, but instead played the title role in the television series Beulah , the first sitcom with African-American actors in leading roles. As she grew in popularity, she campaigned for African American rights and also for African American actors to get better and more diverse roles. In 1960 Beavers withdrew from the film business after more than 160 film and television appearances. In the last years of her life she struggled with diseases such as diabetes mellitus and died in 1962 of a heart attack at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 60. The childless actress left behind her husband Leroy Moore, whom she married in 1952. Louise Beavers was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Louise Beavers  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Louise Beavers: Negotiating Racial Difference"
  2. ^ Louise Beavers in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved March 26, 2017 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Beavers, Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress of African American descent
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1962
Place of death Hollywood , California , United States