Ruby Dee…

Actor. Born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1923 in Cleveland, Ohio. The daughter of a train porter and a schoolteacher, Ruby Dee grew up in Harlem and attended Hunter College before joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941. The veteran stage, film and television luminary made her Broadway debut in the 1943 drama South Pacific,and took her first leading role in 1946′s Anna Lucasta.

The diminutive African American actress rarely played typical black roles in film, and her repertoire varied from Shakespeare’s Cleopatra to the naïve Lutiebelle in Purlie Victorious. She is also well known for her numerous collaborations with her husband, actor Ossie Davis, whom she married in 1948. Dee’s films span a generation and include 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story,1961′s A Raisin in the Sun and 1988′s Do the Right Thing.

In 2008, Dee received her first Oscar nomination for her role as Mama Lucas, the mother of drug lord Frank Lucas, in the hit film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington.

Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were renowned for their work on behalf of equal opportunities for African Americans in the performing arts. In 2004, the couple received the Kennedy Center Honors for their contributions. They published their joint autobiography, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, in 2000. Dee penned her well received memoir, My One Good Nerve, in 1998.