Ossie Davis

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Ossie Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an African-American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.

Early years

Davis was born Raiford Chatman Davis in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia, a son of Kince Charles Davis, a railway construction engineer, and his wife Laura The name Ossie came from a county clerk who misheard his mother's pronunciation of his initials "R.C." when he was born. Davis experienced racism from an early age as the KKK threatened to shoot his father, whose job they felt was too advanced for a black man to have. Following the wishes of his parents, he attended Howard University but dropped out in 1939 to fulfill his acting career in New York; he later attended Columbia University School of General Studies. His acting career, which spanned seven decades, began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem. He made his film debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. He voiced Anansi the spider on the PBS children's television series Sesame Street in its animation segments.

Career

When Davis wanted to pursue a career in acting, he ran into the usual roadblocks that blacks suffered at that time as they generally could only portray stereotypical characters such as Stepin Fetchit. Instead, he tried to follow the example of Sidney Poitier and play more distinguished characters. When he found it necessary to play a Pullman porter or a butler, he tried to portray the character seriously and not in a stereotypical manner.

In addition to acting, Davis, along with Melvin Van Peebles, and Gordon Parks was one of the notable African American directors of his generation: he directed movies like Gordon's War, Black Girl and the far famed action film Cotton Comes to Harlem . Along with Bill Cosby and Poitier, Davis was one of a handful of African American actors able to find commercial success while avoiding stereotypical roles prior to 1970, which also included a significant role in the 1965 movie The Hill alongside Sean Connery plus roles in The Cardinal and The Scalphunters. However, Davis never had the tremendous commercial or critical success that Cosby and Poitier enjoyed. As a playwright, Davis wrote Paul Robeson: All-American, which is frequently performed in theatre programs for young audiences.

Davis found recognition late in his life by working in several of director Spike Lee's films, including Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, She Hate Me and Get on the Bus. He also found work as a commercial voice-over artist and served as the narrator of the early-1990s CBS sitcom Evening Shade, starring Burt Reynolds, where he also played one of the residents of a small southern town.

In 1995, Davis and wife Ruby Dee were awarded the National Medal of Arts. They were also recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. They were also named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 1989.

His last role was a several episode guest role on the groundbreaking Showtime drama series The L Word, as a father struggling with the acceptance of his daughter Bette (Jennifer Beals) parenting a child with her lesbian partner. In his final episodes, his character was taken ill and died. His wife Ruby Dee was present during the filming of his own death scene. That episode, which aired shortly after Davis's own death, aired with a dedication to the actor.

In 2003, both Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee starred and narrated in the HBO film Unchained Memories, a tribute to the WPA slave narratives.

At the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, he and his wife were tied winners in the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album with former President Jimmy Carter.

Personal life

In 1948, Davis married actress Ruby Dee; in their joint autobiography With Ossie and Ruby, they described their decision to have an open marriage (later changing their minds). Their son Guy Davis is a blues musician and former actor, who appeared in the film Beat Street and the daytime soap opera One Life to Live.

Their daughters are Nora Davis Day and Hasna Muhammad.

They were well-known as civil rights activists, and were close personal friends of Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other icons of the era. Davis and Dee's deep involvement in the movement is characterized by how instrumental they were in organizing the 1963 civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, even to the point of serving as emcee. Davis, alongside Ahmed Osman, delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Malcolm X. He re-read part of this eulogy at the end of Spike Lee's film Malcolm X. He also delivered a stirring tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, at a memorial in New York's Central Park the day after King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee.

Death

Davis was found dead in a Miami, Florida hotel room on February 4, 2005. An official cause of death was not released, but he had had heart problems for years and had recently been hospitalized for pneumonia. His last role had been the father of Bette Porter in The L Word, a role which ended with his death from prostate cancer in her home. The episode, which was broadcast after Davis' death, was dedicated to his memory.

Director

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

Black Girl (1972)

Gordon's War (1973)

Countdown at Kusini (1976)

Kongi's Harvest (1978)

Film

No Way Out (1950)

Fourteen Hours

Gone Are the Days! (1963)

The Joe Louis Story (1953)

The Cardinal (1963)

Shock Treatment (1964)

The Hill (1965)

A Man Called Adam (1966)

The Scalphunters (1968)

Sam Whiskey (1969)

Slaves (1969)

The Silent Revolution (1972)

Wattstax (1973)

Let's Do It Again (1975)

Countdown at Kusini (1976)

Hot Stuff (1979)

Death of a Prophet (1981)

The House of God (1984)

Harry & Son (1984)

Avenging Angel (1985)

School Daze (1988)

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)

Jungle Fever (1991)

Gladiator (1992)

Malcolm X (1992)

Cop and a 1/2 (1993)

Grumpy Old Men (1993)

The Client (1994)

Get on the Bus (1996)

I'm Not Rappaport (1996)

4 Little Girls (1997)

Alyson's Closet (1998)

Dr. Dolittle (1998)

The Unfinished Journey (1999)

The Black And The White (1999)[citation needed]

The Gospel According to Mr. Allen (2000)

Dinosaur (2000) (voice)

Here's to Life! (2000)

Voice of the Voiceless (2001)

Why Can't We Be a Family Again? (2002)

Bubba Ho-tep (2002)

Unchained Memories (2003)

Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003)

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks (2003)

BAADASSSSS! (2003)

She Hate Me (2004)

Proud (2004)

A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho (2005)

Television

The Emperor Jones (1955)

Seven Times Monday (1962)

Car 54 Where Are You? (1963)

Night Gallery (1969)

The Tenth Level (1975)

Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid (1977)

King (1978) (miniseries)

Roots: The Next Generations (1979)

Freedom Road (1979)

All God's Children (1980)

Ossie and Ruby! (1980–1981)

Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige (1981)

B.L. Stryker (1989–1990)

We'll Take Manhattan (1990)

Evening Shade (1990–1994)

Alex Haley's Queen (1992)

The Ernest Green Story (1993)

The Stand (1994)

Ray Alexander (1994–1995)

The Android Affair (1995)

The Client (1995–1996)

Home of the Brave (1996)

Promised Land (1996–1998)

Touched By An Angel (1996–2002)

Miss Evers' Boys (1997)

12 Angry Men (1997)

A Vow to Cherish (1999)

The Ghosts of Christmas Eve (1999)

The Secret Path (1999)

The Soul Collector (1999)

Finding Buck McHenry (2000)

Legend of the Candy Cane (2001)

The Feast of All Saints (2001)

Deacons for Defense (2003)

The L Word (2004–2005)

Stage

Jeb (February 21–28, 1946)

The Leading Lady (October 18–23, 1948)

The Smile of the World (January 12–15, 1949)

The Wisteria Trees (March 29 - September 16, 1950)

The Green Pastures (Revival) (March 15 - April 21, 1951)

Remains to Be Seen (October 3, 1951 - March 22, 1952)

Touchstone (February 3–7, 1953)

Jamaica (October 31, 1957 - April 11, 1959)

A Raisin in the Sun (March 11, 1959 - June 25, 1960) (replacing Sidney Poitier)

Purlie Victorious (September 28, 1961 - May 12, 1962)

The Zulu and the Zayda (November 10, 1965 - April 16, 1966)

I'm Not Rappaport (November 19, 1985 - January 17, 1988) (replacing Cleavon Little)

A Celebration of Paul Robeson (October 30, 1988) (Benefit Concert)

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