1940–1959: Early acting roles

Dee joined the American Negro Theatre as an apprentice, working with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms.^[10] She made her Broadway debut portraying a Native in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific (1943). She played the title role in the Eugene O'Neill play Anna Lucasta.^[12] She met her future husband Ossie Davis in the post-World War II play Jeb (1946). That same year she made her first onscreen role was in the musical That Man of Mine (1946). The following film she acted in the crime film The Fight Never Ends (1947).

She received national recognition for her portrayal of Rachel Robinson in the sports drama film The Jackie Robinson Story (1950).^[8] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Dee's performance describing her as "the well restrained sweetheart".^[13] Also in 1950 she had an uncredited role in film noir No Way Out directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. She continued acting in films such as the historical crime film The Tall Target (1951), the sports film Go Man Go (1954), the music film St. Louis Blues (1958), and the British drama Virgin Island (1958). During this time she took a role in the film noir Edge of the City (1957) starring alongside John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier.

1959–1979: Breakthrough and acclaim

In 1959 she gained prominence for originating the role of Ruth Younger in the 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 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".^[14] 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.

Her career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Poitier.^[10] She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role on The Doctors and the Nurses (1964). 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 1963 she acted in the film The Balcony with Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant, and Leonard Nimoy. She then acted in the film noir The Incident (1967), the drama film Uptight (1968), and the documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970).

In 1969, Dee appeared in 20 episodes of Peyton Place.^[8] She acted in Ossie Davis' films Black Girl (1972) and Countdown at Kusini (1976) and the Western film Buck and the Preacher with Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. She appeared as Cora Sanders, a Marxist college professor, in season 1, episode 14 of Police Woman, entitled "Target Black" which aired on Friday night, January 3, 1975. The character of Cora Sanders was obviously, but loosely, influenced by the real-life Angela Davis. She appeared in one episode of The Golden Girls' sixth season. She played Queen Haley in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979) for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.^[8] She acted in the CBS television film I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) based off the Maya Angelou autobiography of the same name.

1980–2014

Dee was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film Decoration Day. She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach episode, "Skylark". Her husband Ossie Davis (1917–2005) also appeared in the episode. She appeared in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, and his 1991 film Jungle Fever.^[8] She starred in the television films portraying Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night (1982) and Mrs. Grimes in Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985). Dee returned to Broadway in the play Checkmates written by Ron Milner. She acted alongside Denzel Washington, Paul Winfield and Marsha Jackson. In 1990 she portrayed Zora Neale Hurston in Zora Is My Name! and played Jackie Robinson's mother in The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson. That same year she earned a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in Decoration Day (1990). She played Mother Abagail Freemantle in the Stephen King miniseries The Stand (1994). She collaborated with comedian Bill Cosby acting in both Cosby in 1998 and voicing Alice the Great in the Nickelodeon animated series Little Bill from 1994 to 2004. The next year she and Davis were awarded the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton.^[15]

In 2003, she narrated a series of WPA & slave narratives in the HBO film Unchained Memories. They were also recipients of the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors. In 2007 the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album was shared by Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter.^[10][16] 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).^[17]

On February 12, 2009, Dee joined the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, in honoring Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in New York City. Under the direction of Maurice Peress, they performed Earl Robinson's The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra, in which Dee was the narrator.^[18] Dee's last role in a theatrically released film was in the Eddie Murphy comedy A Thousand Words, in which she portrayed the mother of Murphy's protagonist. In 2013 she narrated the Lifetime film Betty & Coretta starring Angela Bassett and Mary J. Blige. Her final film role is in 1982, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival^[19] and was released on home video on March 1, 2016.^[20] It is unknown whether her final role will ever be seen, as King Dog was in production at the time of her death,^[21] and no release date has ever been announced.

Marriage

Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in 1941, and began using his middle name as her stage name. The couple divorced in 1945.^[10] Three years later she married actor Ossie Davis, whom she met while costarring in Robert Ardrey's 1946 Broadway play Jeb.^[22] Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discussed their political activism and their decision to have an open marriage (later changing their views).^[23][24] Together they had three children: son, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad. Dee was a breast cancer survivor of more than three decades.^[25] In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dee's name and picture.^[26]

Political activism

Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists in the Civil Rights Movement.^[27] Dee was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was also as an active member of the Harlem Writers Guild for over 40 years. In 1963, Dee emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.^[28] Dee and Davis were both personal friends of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, with Davis giving the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral in 1965.^[29] In 1970, she won the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League.^[8] In 1999, Dee and Davis were arrested at 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department, protesting the police shooting of Amadou Diallo.^[30]

In early 2003, The Nation published "Not in Our Name", an open proclamation vowing opposition to the impending US invasion of Iraq. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were among the signatories, along with Robert Altman, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon, and Howard Zinn, among others.^{[citation needed]} In November 2005, Dee was awarded – along with her late husband – the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award, presented by the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis. Dee, a long-time resident of New Rochelle, New York, was inducted into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame which honors the most notable residents from throughout the community's 325-year history. She was also inducted into the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007, joining such other honorees as Hillary Clinton and Nita Lowey.^[31] In 2009, she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University.^[16][32]

Death

Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91.^[33] In a statement, Gil Robertson IV of the African-American Film Critics Association said, "the members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee. Throughout her seven-decade career, Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of black womanhood and also used her gifts to champion for Human Rights."^[8]

"She very peacefully surrendered", said her daughter Nora Day. "We hugged her, we kissed her, we gave her our permission to go. She opened her eyes. She looked at us. She closed her eyes, and she set sail." Following her death, the marquee on the Apollo Theater read: "A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922–2014".^[34]

Dee was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of Davis, with the inscription "In this thing together".^[10] A public memorial celebration honoring Dee was held on September 20, 2014, at the Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan.^[35] Their shared urn was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.^[36]

Filmography

Television

Theatre