Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace October 27, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio. She was one of four children born to Marshall Edward Wallace, a Pullman-Porter and waiter. Her father moved the family to Harlem, New York after her mother left them when she was an infant and he married Emma Wallace who was a schoolteacher who dreamed of being an actress.

Ruby's mother made all the children study music and literature instead of watching movies and listening to the radio. For the family evening entertainment they recited poetry to each other. Ruby attended and graduated from Hunter High School in New York City. It was after performing in a school play and hearing people clap that she decided she wanted to become an actress.

Dee had many accomplishments throughout her career: she was a 2008 Black Women in Hollywood honoree, in 1946 she got her first Broadway role in the play Jeb. Dee and her husband Ossie Davis wrote books together and made numerous of movies together.

Some interesting and fun facts concerning Mrs. Dee is she created a scholarship in Dramatic Arts for talented young black women, in 2001 Dee & Davis received the lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. Dee and Davis were also greatly involved and supported the Civil Rights Movement.

During my research I could not find out if Mrs. Dee had a hero or not but I am sure she thought her mother was a hero because she introduced her to the Arts at an early age. She noted she was a shy child but this led her to want to express herself more.

Ruby Dee attended Hunter College in New York City where she studied Romance language. She became an apprentice at the American Negro Theatre where she studied acting from 1941-1944. She received her B.A. degree in 1945 and she used her French and Spanish experience to become a translator for a business.

She met Ossie Davis in 1946 during the Broadway play Jeb and they married in 1948. They have two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad, and a son Guy Davis.

Mrs. Dee has no military experience but she is known as social activist for racial equity. Dee has appeared in numerous stage plays in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. She was in the traveling production of “Anna Lucasta” in 1946 at the Hanna Theater but her most recent appearance was in the Cleveland Play House’s production of “St.Lucy’s Eyes.”

Dee has had a growing career. She acted in her first movie in 1950 in the Jackie Robinson story where she played his wife. She starred in the daytime radio series called ‘Nora Drake” and she had her first T.V. performance in 1960 which was in “Actor’s Choice” on the Camera Three series.

Although her mother wanted to become an actress and introduced her to the Arts her father was her role model he taught her the importance of being black, which made her become involved in the Civil Rights Movement and become a Social Rights Activist.

The events that led to Dee taking the stage and becoming famous started December 1943. While she was studying at Hunter she made her first Broadway debut with walk on part of the South Pacific play. In 1946 after graduating she returned to the stage and made a memorable performance as Libby George in Jeb by then Dee name was being known. In 1965 she mad a big step in her career and became the first black actress to appear in major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stamford, Connecticut, playing Cecelia in “King Lear” and Kate in the “Taming of the Shrew.”

Some of the major accomplishments she has made in her in life were to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center December 5, 2004. 1995 President Bill Clinton presented her with the National Medal of Arts and in 1979, she wrote her first good book “My One Good Nerve” and followed up in 1987 with a book of short stories and poems.

During her life there has been many things happening in the USA and the world. In 1973 Dee won the Drama Desk award and the oil crisis caused Ohio businesses to drop to a record low. 1967 Carl B Stokes was elected the first black mayor of Cleveland (Dee hometown) and she was acting in the movie “The Incident” and in 1924 Ruby Ann Wallace was born and this was the same year that Gandhi went on a 21-day fast for Indian unity and religious tolerance.

Other Fun Facts and inside stories found on Dee was she and Ossie Davis were married for 56 years before his death but she never took the last name of Davis. Davis said they were living one of the greatest love stories of the 20th century. Ruby Dee is also a 30 year plus Breast Cancer Survivor.

Ruby Dee is now 86 years old and she made her last movie to date in 2007 called “American Gangster”. In 2008 after decades of working in the industry she finally received her first Oscar nomination for playing Mama Lucas in “American Gangster”.

Ruby Dee can be considered a hero for the many of accomplishments she had made thus far in her life but for me she is a hero because she has been an actress for six decades. She has not only acted but she has had a career as a play writer, screenwriter, author, poet and activist add that to her Civil Rights involvement and she is a true hero to me. She was a personal friend with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In fact, she gave the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral.

Dee and Davis acted in many movies together where they played husband and wife, they did many projects designed to promote black heritage as well. She is still in good health and she makes guest appearances on the CSI series. Although her husband died in 2005 she continues to have an active career and enjoys the time with her children and grandchildren.