Star of the Month: Ruby Dee - Life and Career with Ossie Davis

Shared by PIP GOD on Bellazon

Whether Star of the Month, Ruby Dee, was in front of a camera, on a stage, or on the front line of march or protest, much of the time, she was standing with her husband, the late Ossie Davis. 

The legendary couple met in 1946, while performing in the short-lived Broadway production, Jeb. Initially, Ms. Ruby wasn't exactly impressed with the tall, lanky, and strangely dressed Ossie Davis, but a very small and simple moment, as Ms. Dee talks about in this interview, eventually changed how she felt about him.

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee married on December 9, 1948 in New Jersey, and were married until Ossie's death in 2005.


Together on Stage and Screen

Below is a list of film, television, and stage credits that Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis share. Some have accompanying links:


Stage

Jeb (1946) [Images available]

Anna Lucasta (1946) [Photo Find]

The Smile of the World (1949)

A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
(Ossie Davis was a replacement for Sidney Poitier)

Purlie Victorious (1961)

Zora is My Name! (1983?)
Part I of Zora is My Name! on a 1990 episode of PBS' American Playhouse


Television

Roots: The Next Generations (1979)

All God's Children (1980)

Ossie and Ruby! (1981-1982)
Part I of an episode featuring Gil Scott-Heron

The Ernest Green Story (1993)

The Stand (1994)

Finding Buck Henry (2000)

The Feast of All Saints (2001)


Film

No Way Out (1950)
(Ossie Davis' film debut; both uncredited)

Gone Are the Days! (1963)
(Film adaptation of Purlie Victorious)

Wattstax (1973 documentary)

Do the Right Thing (1989)
Clip - "Da Mayor and Mother Sister"

Jungle Fever (1991)
Clip - "Gator's Last Dance" - if you've never seen Jungle Fever (and want to), don't watch

Cop and a Half (1993)
(Apparently, Mr. Davis went uncredited as a detective. I've gotta watch this again myself because I've been missing him all these years!)


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Sources

Wikipedia [Ruby Dee] [Ossie Davis]
IMDb [Ruby Dee] [Ossie Davis]