Ossie Davis

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Ossie Davis (2004)

Ossie Davis (actually Raiford Chatman Davis , * 18th December 1917 in Cogdell, Clinch County , Georgia , † 4. February 2005 in Miami , Florida ) was an American actor , director , playwright and civil rights .

Life

His acting career, which spanned seven decades, began in 1939 with the Harlem theater company Rose McClendon Players . He played his first film role in 1950 in No Way Out alongside Sidney Poitier .

Davis faced the same difficulties as most African-American actors of his generation: he wanted to work, but not just play the butler roles that black actors were mostly offered at the time. Instead, he tried to follow Poitier and play more respected characters, or at least, if he had to play a "Pullman Porter" or a butler, to give these characters character and dignity.

He was not widely recognized until late, as he appeared in various Spike Lee films , such as Jungle Fever (1991), Doctor Dolittle (1998), She Hate Me (2004) and Get on the Bus . He also spoke the background voice for some commercials; One of the most famous of these was the sentence for the American Negro College Fund : "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Ossie Davis and his wife, actress Ruby Dee , whom he married in December 1948 and with whom he had three children, were also known for their civil rights engagement. They were friends with Malcolm X , Jesse Jackson , Martin Luther King and other prominent civil rights activists. Davis wrote the eulogy on Malcolm X; He spoke parts of this speech at the end of the film Malcolm X by Spike Lee. He also wrote a book on Martin Luther King Jr.

Ossie Davis was found dead in his Miami hotel room on February 4, 2005, where he had died of a heart attack. Davies was a member of the Freemasons Association , his lodge is constituted under the Prince Hall Grand Lodge .

Filmography

Ossie Davis (1951, photographer: Carl Van Vechten )

As a director

  • 1970: Kongi's Harvest
  • 1970: When Night falls in Manhattan (Cotton Comes to Harlem)
  • 1972: Black Girl
  • 1973: Hunt for Left Brothers (Gordon's War)
  • 1976: Countdown at Kusini

As a film actor

Ossie Davis also took on many roles in television productions between 1955 and 2004, such as B. the leading role in the TV adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play Emperor Jones (1955), or in the series Roots - The Next Generations (1979), the sitcom Daddy creates us all (1991-1994) or most recently in the series The L Word - When women love women .

Performances at the theater

  • 1946: Jeb
  • 1948: The Leading Lady
  • 1949: The Smile of the World
  • 1950: The Wisteria Trees by Joshua Logan
  • 1951/1952: Remains to Be Seen by Howard Lindsay
  • 1951: The Green Pastures by Marc Connelly
  • 1953: Touchstone
  • 1957-1959: Jamaica
  • 1959/1960: A Raisin in the Sun
  • 1961/1962: Purlie Victorious by Ossie Davis
  • 1963: Ballad for Bimshire
  • 1965/1966: The Zulu and the Zayda (Musical by Harold Rome)
  • 1985–1988: I'm Not Rappaport by Herb Gardner

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Masons in Hollywood (PDF file) ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on archived copy ( memento of the original from January 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 9, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unitylodge.ca @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unitylodge.ca
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lortel.org

Web links

Commons : Ossie Davis  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Davis, Ossie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davis, Raiford Chatman (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Cogdell, Georgia
DATE OF DEATH February 4, 2005
Place of death Miami , Florida