Ruby Dee

Born: 1922-10-27

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).


Placeholder

American Gangster

as Mama Lucas
Released: 2007-11-02

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself...

Movie page

A Thousand Words

as Annie McCall
Released: 2012-03-07

Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has...

Movie page

Do the Right Thing

as Mother Sister
Released: 1989-06-14

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local,...

Movie page

Jungle Fever

as Lucinda Purify
Released: 1991-06-07

A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work....

Movie page

Cat People

as Female
Released: 1982-04-02

After years of separation, Irena Gallier and her minister brother, Paul, reunite in New Orleans....

Movie page

A Simple Wish

as Hortence
Released: 1997-07-11

Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her...

Movie page

Just Cause

as Evangeline Ferguson
Released: 1995-02-17

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of...

Movie page

Baby Geniuses

as Margo
Released: 1999-03-12

BabyCo is the world's leading manufacturer in baby products. However, what the public doesn't...

Movie page

A Raisin in the Sun

as Ruth Younger
Released: 1961-05-28

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment...

Movie page

Cop and ½

as Rachel
Released: 1993-04-02

When a pint-sized 8-year-old kid witnesses a murder he offers to help the police, if they make...

Movie page

The Incident

as Joan Robinson
Released: 1967-11-05

Two hoodlums terrorize the passengers of a late-night New York City subway train.

Movie page

Love at Large

as Corrine Dart
Released: 1990-03-09

Vampish miss Dolan hires hardboiled P.I. Harry Dobbs to tail her shady boyfriend. Harry realizes...

Movie page

No Way Out

as Connie Brooks (uncredited)
Released: 1950-08-16

Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies...

Movie page

The Tall Target

as Rachel
Released: 1951-08-17

A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train...

Movie page

Decoration Day

as Rowena
Released: 1990-12-02

A cantankerous widower (Garner) who is virtually living the life of a recluse is forced to...

Movie page

Deadlock

as Lucinda
Released: 1969-02-22

The murder of a journalist, coming shortly after the killings of a black teenager and a white...

Movie page

Buck and the Preacher

as Ruth
Released: 1972-03-17

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

Movie page

Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal

as Self
Released: 2013-02-01

The film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia...

Movie page

Edge of the City

as Lucy Tyler
Released: 1957-01-04

An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt manager.

Movie page

No. 2

as Nanna Maria
Released: 2006-02-16

A matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor. The heart...

Movie page

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years

as Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
Released: 1999-04-18

Tells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored")...

Movie page

Captive Heart: The James Mink Story

as Indigo
Released: 1996-04-14

James Mink is a black man in Canada who has built a very successful livery business, and enjoys...

Movie page

Go Tell It on the Mountain

as Mrs. Grimes
Released: 1985-01-14

This film adaptation of James Baldwin's celebrated novel tells the journey of a family from the...

Movie page

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1970-03-24

Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King,...

Movie page

The Wall

as Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")
Released: 1998-05-24

The story of three items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall: a pencil holder, a...

Movie page

The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll

as Miss Candy
Released: 2011-08-05

In this film, childhood friends come face to face with the demons of rock and roll (lust, drugs,...

Movie page

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson

as Jackie's Mother
Released: 1990-10-15

A film about the early life of the baseball star in the army, particulary his court-martial for...

Movie page

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

as Grandmother Baxter
Released: 1979-04-28

Based on writer Maya Angelou's eloquent reminiscences of her days as a gifted youngster growing...

Movie page

Their Eyes Were Watching God

as Nanny
Released: 2005-03-06

A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford's search for happiness leads her...

Movie page

Video Girl

as Valerie
Released: 2011-10-11

Lorie Walker is a small town girl whose big dreams of becoming a dancer come true when she...

Movie page

Steam

as Doris
Released: 2007-11-15

Three women — a young coed, a forty-something single mother, and one a senior-aged widow — meet...

Movie page

Feast of All Saints

as Elsie Claviere
Released: 2001-11-11

Set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free...

Movie page

The Jackie Robinson Story

as Rae Robinson
Released: 1950-05-16

Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century....

Movie page

It's Good to Be Alive

as Ruth Campanella
Released: 1974-02-22

This movie details the struggles of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella to adapt to...

Movie page

Mr. and Mrs. Loving

as Sophia
Released: 1996-03-13

A moving and uplifting drama about the effects of interracial marriage in the 1960s. Friends...

Movie page

Uptight

as Laurie
Released: 1968-12-28

Black militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a race war are betrayed by...

Movie page

Betty and Coretta

as Narrator
Released: 2013-02-02

The widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the...

Movie page

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

as (archive footage)
Released: 2004-01-01

Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of...

Movie page

St. Louis Blues

as Elizabeth
Released: 1958-04-07

Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends...

Movie page

The Sheriff

as Sue Ann Lucas
Released: 1971-03-30

A rape case opens racial divisions in a small town. A black sheriff and his white deputy...

Movie page

Virgin Island

as Ruth
Released: 1959-08-07

A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live...

Movie page

Zora is My Name!

as Zora Neale Hurston
Released: 1990-01-01

A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th Century...

Movie page

Gone Are the Days!

as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins
Released: 1963-08-09

A young, idealistic man returns home to the plantation where he grew up in servitude. With him,...

Movie page

The Balcony

as Thief
Released: 1963-03-21

The Madam of a brothel satisfies the erotic fantasies of her customers, while a revolution is...

Movie page

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

as uncredited
Released: 2003-02-10

When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years...

Movie page

The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six

as uncredited
Released: 1980-01-01

In 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned...

Movie page

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee

as Self
Released: 2014-06-22

In this open-letter style documentary, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis' rich lives guide their grandson...

Movie page

Finding Buck McHenry

as Mrs. Henry
Released: 2000-04-16

When an 11 year old boy gets cut from his Little League baseball team, he sets out to form his...

Movie page

The Ernest Green Story

as Lydia Wilson
Released: 1993-01-17

Follows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to...

Movie page

Passing Glory

as Mommit Porter
Released: 1999-02-21

A true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and...

Movie page

In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema

as Herself
Released: 2007-09-15

This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when...

Movie page

All God's Children

as Irene Whitfield
Released: 1980-04-28

Big city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long...

Movie page

Go Man Go

as Irma Jackson
Released: 1954-01-27

The story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Movie page

A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 2009-07-22

For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African-Americans,...

Movie page

A Storm in Summer

as Grandmother
Released: 2000-01-18

Set in 1969, Abel Shaddick, a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in...

Movie page

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

as Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters
Released: 1972-01-20

A mosaic biopic on Lorraine Hansberry, based on the stage play combining her unpublished...

Movie page

America

as Mrs. Harper
Released: 2009-02-28

In "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her...

Movie page

Black Girl

as Netta's mother
Released: 1972-11-09

An aspiring dancer and her two wicked sisters resent their mother's love for a foster daughter.

Movie page

Take a Giant Step

as Christine
Released: 1959-12-01

This pioneering film in the history of African-American cinema, released two years before "A...

Movie page

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

as Self
Released: 2004-02-25

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated...

Movie page

Easy to Get

as Drugstore Girl
Released: 1947-07-10

U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.

Movie page

That Man of Mine

as Joan
Released: 1946-01-01

Featuring the swinging sounds of the all-woman band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and...

Movie page

Tuesday Morning Ride

as Jennie
Released: 1995-01-01

Tuesday Morning Ride is based on the short story "A Summer Tragedy" by Arna Bontemps, a Harlem...

Movie page

All About Us

as Ms. Ella
Released: 2007-10-01

Two Hollywood filmmakers attempt to find Morgan Freeman in Mississippi and convince him to star...

Movie page

Color Adjustment

as Narrator
Released: 1992-01-29

From Amos 'n' Andy to Nat King Cole, from Roots to The Cosby Show, black people have played many...

Movie page

Whitewash

as Grandmother (voice)
Released: 1994-08-16

When Helene Angel walks home from school with her older brother she is attacked by a street gang...

Movie page

Discovering William Greaves

as Self
Released: 2006-12-06

A documentary on the career of William Greaves, featuring Greaves, his wife and co-producer...

Movie page

Politics of Love

as uncredited
Released: 2011-08-26

Politics makes strange bedfellows, but never stranger than when a sexy, savvy, African-American...

Movie page

Countdown at Kusini

as Leah Matanzima
Released: 1976-04-16

An American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in...

Movie page

After Goodbye

as Narrator
Released: 1993-06-23

Award-winning actress Ruby Dee narrates this powerful documentary about the impact of AIDS on...

Movie page

Love in Syncopation

as uncredited
Released: 1946-08-03

Follows the band's rise in show business, starting with its origins in the Navy during World War...

Movie page

What a Guy

as uncredited
Released: 1948-01-01

Mantan Moreland's comedy feature.

Movie page

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand

as Self
Released: 1999-02-24

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete,...

Movie page

Long Day's Journey Into Night

as Mary Tyrone
Released: 1982-11-23

Over the course of one day in August 1912, the family of retired actor James Tyrone grapples...

Movie page

Jazztime Tale

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1991-11-02

Family - Set in Harlem in 1919, two girls - one white, one black - form a lifelong friendship...

Movie page

The Fight Never Ends

as uncredited
Released: 1948-03-06

Joe Louis, portraying himself, is a good influence on a group of Harlem youths who are tempted...

Movie page

Poitier's Walter Lee

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2018-09-25

An interview with film scholar Mia Mask, co-editor of Poitier Revisited.

Movie page

Wedding Band

as Julia Augustine
Released: 1974-04-24

A drama which examines the enduring nature of love between a white man and a black woman in 1918...

Movie page

Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'

as Self
Released: 2002-06-14

Panel discussion about the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the...

Movie page

Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood

as Self
Released: 1998-02-10

Louis Gossett Jr. takes viewers through a special documentary celebration of the groundbreaking...

Movie page

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

as Mary Wilson
First aired: 2000-10-06

A Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the...

TV Show page

The Fugitive

as Laura Smith
First aired: 1963-09-17

Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route...

TV Show page

The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest
First aired: 1968-06-06

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various...

TV Show page

American Experience

as Narrator (voice)
First aired: 1988-10-04

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform...

TV Show page

The Golden Girls

as Mammy Watkins
First aired: 1985-09-14

Four Southern Florida seniors share a house, their dreams, and a whole lot of cheesecake....

TV Show page

Great Performances

as Self
First aired: 1971-01-28

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse...

TV Show page

Touched by an Angel

as LaBelle Springbelt
First aired: 1994-09-21

Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who...

TV Show page

The Defenders

as Catherine Collins
First aired: 1961-09-16

The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed...

TV Show page

China Beach

as uncredited
First aired: 1988-04-26

Dateline: November 1967. Within klicks of Danang, Vietnam, sits a U.S. Army base, bar and...

TV Show page

Reading Rainbow

as Herself - Narrator (voice)
First aired: 1983-06-06

Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode...

TV Show page

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

as Grandma (voice)
First aired: 1995-03-12

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child is an American anthology animated television series.

TV Show page

Police Woman

as uncredited
First aired: 1974-09-13

Sergeant “Pepper"” Anderson, an undercover cop for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los...

TV Show page

The Great Adventure

as Harriet Tubman
First aired: 1963-09-27

The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964...

TV Show page

The Kennedy Center Honors

as Self
First aired: 1978-12-28

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their...

TV Show page

Spenser: For Hire

as uncredited
First aired: 1985-09-20

Mystery and suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private...

TV Show page

The Stand

as Mother Abagail
First aired: 1994-05-08

After a deadly plague kills most of the world’s population, the remaining survivors split into...

TV Show page

Roots: The Next Generations

as Queen Victoria Haley
First aired: 1979-02-18

Roots: The Next Generations is a television miniseries, introduced in 1979, continuing, from...

TV Show page

Little Bill

as uncredited
First aired: 1999-11-28

Little Bill is a television show for children that is presently on Nick Jr. The stories are...

TV Show page

The Atlanta Child Murders

as Faye Williams
First aired: 1985-02-10

The Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS....

TV Show page

Iconoclasts

as Self
First aired: 2005-11-17

Iconoclasts is a Sundance Channel show. Each episode pairs two "creative visionaries" who...

TV Show page

Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Rowena Finch
First aired: 1951-12-24

Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark...

TV Show page

Lincoln

as Elizabeth Keckley
First aired: 1988-03-27

"Lincoln" was a 1988 American television mini-series starring Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln,...

TV Show page

Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years

as Narrator
First aired: 2002-06-01

A two-series set produced by the A&E network which explores the history of Christianity and its...

TV Show page

Middle Ages

as Estelle Williams
First aired: 1992-09-03

Middle Ages is an American comedy-drama television series that aired from September 3 until...

TV Show page