Ruby Dee
Acting
Biography
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).
Born: October 27, 1922
Place of Birth: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Known For
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
The film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Sports on the Silver Screen
HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from the earliest silent films until the nineties. Watch not for dramatic scenes but for the glimpse of historical figures shown both cinematic and athletic- in this tribute to the merging of sports and Hollywood.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.
Reading Rainbow
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.
Do the Right Thing
Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.
A Raisin in the Sun
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
A Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that solve the mystery.
St. Louis Blues
Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can't stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local politician, Gogo, a speakeasy singer, convinces Will to be her accompanist. Will is estranged from his father for many years while he writes and publishes many blues songs. At last the family is reunited when Gogo brings them to New York to see Will's music played by a symphony orchestra.
American Gangster
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.
The Golden Girls
Four Southern Florida seniors share a house, their dreams, and a whole lot of cheesecake. Bright, promiscuous, clueless and hilarious, these lovely, mismatched ladies form the perfect circle of friends.
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Narrator
as Annie McCall
as Valerie
as Miss Candy
as Narrator (voice)
as Mrs. Harper
as Doris
as Mama Lucas
as Ms. Ella
as Self
as Maude
as Nanna Maria
as Self
as Nanny
as Self
as (archive footage)
as Narrator
as Emelda West
as Elsie Claviere
as Mary Wilson
as Mrs. Henry
as Grandmother
as Narrator (voice)
as Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
as Margo
as Self
as Mommit Porter
as Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")
as Hortence
as Self (archive footage)
as Indigo
as Sophia
as Grandma (voice)
as Evangeline Ferguson
as Jennie
as LaBelle Springbelt
as Grandmother (voice)
as Mother Abagail Freemantle
as Narrator
as Rachel
as Lydia Wilson
as Estelle Williams
as Narrator
as Narrator (voice)
as Lucinda Purify
as Rowena
as Jackie's Mother
as Corrine Dart
as Zora Neale Hurston
as Mother Sister
as Narrator (voice)
as Elizabeth Keckley
as Mammy Watkins
as Faye Williams
as Mrs. Grimes
as Self - Narrator (voice)
as Mary Tyrone
as Female
as Irene Whitfield
as Grandmother Baxter
as Queen Haley
as Self
as Leah Matanzima
as Julia Augustine
as Ruth Campanella
as Netta's mother
as Ruth
as Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters
as Sue Ann Lucas
as Self
as Self (archive footage)
as Lucinda
as Laurie
as Self - Guest
as Joan Robinson
as Harriet Tubman
as Laura Smith
as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins
as Thief
as Catherine Collins
as Ruth Younger
as Christine
as Ruth
as Elizabeth
as Lucy Tyler
as Irma Jackson
as Self
as Rowena Finch
as Rachel
as Connie Brooks (uncredited)
as Rae Robinson
as Drugstore Girl
as Joan