Ruby Bridges

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Lore & Background

Ruby 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. She made her film debut in That Man of Mine (1946) before landing leading roles in films such as The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Edge of the City (1957), Take a Giant Step (1959), and Buck and the Preacher (1972). For her performance in American Gangster (2007), Dee was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role. Dee received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in The Doctors and the Nurses (1964) and Decoration Day (1990). She was nominated for her other roles in Roots: The Next Generations (1979), Lincoln (1988), China Beach (1990), and Evening Shade (1993). She also acted in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979), Long Day's Journey into Night (1982), Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985), The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990), and The Stand (1994). She voiced Alice the Great in the Nick Jr. series Little Bill from 1999 to 2004.

Reader's Guide

Ruby Dee's career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades. In 1959, she gained prominence for originating the role of Ruth Younger, a suffering housewife in the projects, in Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, which premiered on Broadway. She acted alongside Sidney Poitier and Louis Gossett Jr. The play was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. She reprised the role opposite Poitier in the 1961 film of the same name. She returned to Broadway in the Ossie Davis satirical farce Purlie Victorious (1961) portraying Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins. Howard Taubman of The New York Times wrote of Dee's performance, "[she] has been treated generously. As Lutiebell she has enough humor and charm to make one envy Purlie Victorious that she is eager disciple." She acted opposite her husband Ossie Davis and Alan Alda in his acting debut. They reprised their roles of the 1963 film entitled Gone Are the Days!, which was produced by Brock Peters and directed by Nicholas Webster. In 1965, Dee performed in lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear, becoming the first black actress to portray a lead role in the festival. In 2007, Dee portrayed Mama Lucas in the Ridley Scott directed crime film American Gangster (2007). Dee acted alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. For her performance she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress losing to Tilda Swinton for her role in the legal thriller Michael Clayton (2007). She won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role for the same performance. At 85 years of age, Dee is currently the third oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart and Judi Dench (both 87).

Did You Know?

• Ruby Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio.
• She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
• She originated the Broadway role of Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959).
• She was the first black actress to portray a lead role at the American Shakespeare Festival, playing Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear in 1965.
• At 85, she was the third oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart and Judi Dench (both 87).