Ruby Dee
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).
American Gangster
as Mama LucasFollowing the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself...
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Cat People
as FemaleAfter years of separation, Irena Gallier and her minister brother, Paul, reunite in New Orleans....
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Do the Right Thing
as Mother SisterSalvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local,...
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Just Cause
as Evangeline FergusonA Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of...
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Jungle Fever
as Lucinda PurifyA successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work....
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A Thousand Words
as Annie McCallJack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has...
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Cop and ½
as RachelWhen a pint-sized 8-year-old kid witnesses a murder he offers to help the police, if they make...
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Baby Geniuses
as MargoBabyCo is the world's leading manufacturer in baby products. However, what the public doesn't...
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A Simple Wish
as HortenceMurray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her...
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No Way Out
as Connie Brooks (uncredited)Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies...
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The Incident
as Joan RobinsonTwo hoodlums terrorize the passengers of a late-night New York City subway train.
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A Raisin in the Sun
as Ruth YoungerWalter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment...
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The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
as Miss CandyIn this film, childhood friends come face to face with the demons of rock and roll (lust, drugs,...
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
as NannyA drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford's search for happiness leads her...
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Buck and the Preacher
as RuthA wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
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Love at Large
as Corrine DartVampish miss Dolan hires hardboiled P.I. Harry Dobbs to tail her shady boyfriend. Harry realizes...
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The Tall Target
as RachelA detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train...
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The Jackie Robinson Story
as Rae RobinsonBiography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century....
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Edge of the City
as Lucy TylerAn army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt manager.
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Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
as uncreditedWhen the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years...
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King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
as Self (archive footage)Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King,...
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The Wall
as Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")The story of three items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall: a pencil holder, a...
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Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
as SelfThe film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia...
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Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
as SelfBeah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated...
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Uptight
as LaurieBlack militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a race war are betrayed by...
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After Goodbye
as NarratorAward-winning actress Ruby Dee narrates this powerful documentary about the impact of AIDS on...
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Video Girl
as ValerieLorie Walker is a small town girl whose big dreams of becoming a dancer come true when she...
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All About Us
as Ms. EllaTwo Hollywood filmmakers attempt to find Morgan Freeman in Mississippi and convince him to star...
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No. 2
as Nanna MariaA matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor. The heart...
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Color Adjustment
as NarratorFrom Amos 'n' Andy to Nat King Cole, from Roots to The Cosby Show, black people have played many...
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A Storm in Summer
as GrandmotherSet in 1969, Abel Shaddick, a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in...
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The Ernest Green Story
as Lydia WilsonFollows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to...
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Betty and Coretta
as NarratorThe widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the...
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Steam
as DorisThree women — a young coed, a forty-something single mother, and one a senior-aged widow — meet...
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St. Louis Blues
as ElizabethWill Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends...
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Feast of All Saints
as Elsie ClaviereSet in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
as Grandmother BaxterBased on writer Maya Angelou's eloquent reminiscences of her days as a gifted youngster growing...
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America
as Mrs. HarperIn "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her...
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Decoration Day
as RowenaA cantankerous widower (Garner) who is virtually living the life of a recluse is forced to...
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The Balcony
as ThiefThe Madam of a brothel satisfies the erotic fantasies of her customers, while a revolution is...
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Mr. and Mrs. Loving
as SophiaA moving and uplifting drama about the effects of interracial marriage in the 1960s. Friends...
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Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
as IndigoJames Mink is a black man in Canada who has built a very successful livery business, and enjoys...
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Taking Back Our Town
as Emelda WestA true story about a concerned housewife, Pat Melancon, who tries to block Shintech, a massive...
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Gone Are the Days!
as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae JenkinsA young, idealistic man returns home to the plantation where he grew up in servitude. With him,...
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TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
as (archive footage)Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of...
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It's Good to Be Alive
as Ruth CampanellaThis movie details the struggles of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella to adapt to...
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The Sheriff
as Sue Ann LucasA rape case opens racial divisions in a small town. A black sheriff and his white deputy...
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The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
as Jackie's MotherA film about the early life of the baseball star in the army, particulary his court-martial for...
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Black Girl
as Netta's motherAn aspiring dancer and her two wicked sisters resent their mother's love for a foster daughter.
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Virgin Island
as RuthA British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live...
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Passing Glory
as Mommit PorterA true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and...
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Deadlock
as LucindaThe murder of a journalist, coming shortly after the killings of a black teenager and a white...
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Take a Giant Step
as ChristineThis pioneering film in the history of African-American cinema, released two years before "A...
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
as Mrs. GrimesThis film adaptation of James Baldwin's celebrated novel tells the journey of a family from the...
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In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
as HerselfThis documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when...
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Zora is My Name!
as Zora Neale HurstonA celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th Century...
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To Be Young, Gifted and Black
as Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted charactersA mosaic biopic on Lorraine Hansberry, based on the stage play combining her unpublished...
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The Stand
as Mother AbagailAfter a deadly plague kills most of the world’s population, the remaining survivors split into...
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The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
as uncreditedIn 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned...
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Finding Buck McHenry
as Mrs. HenryWhen an 11 year old boy gets cut from his Little League baseball team, he sets out to form his...
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Discovering William Greaves
as SelfA documentary on the career of William Greaves, featuring Greaves, his wife and co-producer...
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Go Man Go
as Irma JacksonThe story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
as Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' DelanyTells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored")...
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Tuesday Morning Ride
as JennieTuesday Morning Ride is based on the short story "A Summer Tragedy" by Arna Bontemps, a Harlem...
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Countdown at Kusini
as Leah MatanzimaAn American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in...
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Easy to Get
as Drugstore GirlU.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.
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All God's Children
as Irene WhitfieldBig city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long...
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Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
as SelfIn this open-letter style documentary, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis' rich lives guide their grandson...
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Politics of Love
as uncreditedPolitics makes strange bedfellows, but never stranger than when a sexy, savvy, African-American...
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Whitewash
as Grandmother (voice)When Helene Angel walks home from school with her older brother she is attacked by a street gang...
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The Fight Never Ends
as uncreditedJoe Louis, portraying himself, is a good influence on a group of Harlem youths who are tempted...
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That Man of Mine
as JoanFeaturing the swinging sounds of the all-woman band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and...
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Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
as SelfPaul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete,...
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Long Day's Journey Into Night
as Mary TyroneOver the course of one day in August 1912, the family of retired actor James Tyrone grapples...
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Wedding Band
as Julia AugustineA drama which examines the enduring nature of love between a white man and a black woman in 1918...
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Poitier's Walter Lee
as Self (archive footage)An interview with film scholar Mia Mask, co-editor of Poitier Revisited.
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Love in Syncopation
as uncreditedFollows the band's rise in show business, starting with its origins in the Navy during World War...
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A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
as Narrator (voice)For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African-Americans,...
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Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
as SelfPanel discussion about the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the...
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Jazztime Tale
as Narrator (voice)Family - Set in Harlem in 1919, two girls - one white, one black - form a lifelong friendship...
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Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
as SelfLouis Gossett Jr. takes viewers through a special documentary celebration of the groundbreaking...
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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
as Mary WilsonA Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the...
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The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - GuestThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various...
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The Fugitive
as Laura SmithRichard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route...
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Great Performances
as SelfThe best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse...
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American Experience
as Narrator (voice)TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform...
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Little Bill
as uncreditedLittle Bill is a television show for children that is presently on Nick Jr. The stories are...
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The Defenders
as Catherine CollinsThe Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed...
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Touched by an Angel
as LaBelle SpringbeltMonica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who...
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The Golden Girls
as Mammy WatkinsFour Southern Florida seniors share a house, their dreams, and a whole lot of cheesecake....
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Spenser: For Hire
as uncreditedMystery and suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private...
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Police Woman
as uncreditedSergeant “Pepper"” Anderson, an undercover cop for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los...
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The Kennedy Center Honors
as SelfThe Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their...
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Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
as Grandma (voice)Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child is an American anthology animated television series.
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China Beach
as uncreditedDateline: November 1967. Within klicks of Danang, Vietnam, sits a U.S. Army base, bar and...
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Reading Rainbow
as Herself - Narrator (voice)Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode...
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The Great Adventure
as Harriet TubmanThe Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964...
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The Stand
as Mother AbagailAfter a deadly plague kills most of the world’s population, the remaining survivors split into...
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Roots: The Next Generations
as Queen Victoria HaleyRoots: The Next Generations is a television miniseries, introduced in 1979, continuing, from...
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Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Rowena FinchHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark...
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Iconoclasts
as SelfIconoclasts is a Sundance Channel show. Each episode pairs two "creative visionaries" who...
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The Atlanta Child Murders
as Faye WilliamsThe Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS....
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Lincoln
as Elizabeth Keckley"Lincoln" was a 1988 American television mini-series starring Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln,...
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Middle Ages
as Estelle WilliamsMiddle Ages is an American comedy-drama television series that aired from September 3 until...
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Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years
as NarratorA two-series set produced by the A&E network which explores the history of Christianity and its...
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