Ossie Davis
[1917-2005]
Ossie Davis was
found dead Friday morning in a Miami Beach, Fla., hotel where he was staying
as he was filming his latest movie, "Retirement." His grandson
called shortly before 7 a.m., and when Davis did not open the door to
his room, he became suspicious and called authorities. Davis was found
dead, apparently of natural causes.
Ruby Dee is the wife of the late Ossie Davis; he was 87-years old. Davis was a writer, actor, director, and producer. Born Dec. 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia as Raiford Chatman Davis, he was the oldest of five children born to Laura Cooper and Kince Davis. Ossie was picked up as a nickname when friends and neighbors mistook his mother's enunciation of his initials, "R. C,” as "Ossie."
He attended and graduated from Howard University.
Davis began his career as a writer and an actor with the Rose McClendon
Players in Harlem in 1939.
In 1946, he made his Broadway debut in Jeb, winning rave reviews.
He went on to perform in many Broadway productions, including Anna
Lucasta, The Wisteria Trees, Green Pastures, Jamaica, Ballad for Bimshire,
The Zulu and the Zayda, and the stage version of I'm Not Rappaport.
Davis is also widely acclaimed for his role in A Raisin in the Sun
(1959) and its 1961-film version, as well as for The Joe Louis Story
(1953). In 1961, Davis wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Purlie
Victorious. He has written and directed many films, including Cotton
Comes to Harlem (1970) and Countdown at Kusini (co-produced
with his wife, Ruby Dee,1976), the first American feature film to be shot
entirely in Africa by Black professionals. Other Davis credits include
Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), and Malcolm
X (1994).
Davis also appeared in the film, Dr. Doolittle, with Eddie Murphy;
Get on the Bus for Spike Lee; I'm Not Rappaport with Walter
Matthau; Angry Men for Showtime Network; and on the CBS television
series, Promised Land. Davis has received many honors and citations,
including the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement
in 1989; the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994; the U. S. National Medal for
the Arts in 1995; the New York Urban League Frederick Douglass Award;
the NAACP Image Award and more.
He is the author of three children's books, Escape to Freedom,
which was honored by the American Library Association and the Jane Adams
Children's Book Award; Langston; and Just Like Martin. Davis
along with his fellow performer, stage and screen collaborator, and political
activist wife, Ruby Dee, has enjoyed a long and luminous career in entertainment.
They have over 50 years of collaboration on a wide range of creative,
charitable, political, and social projects.
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were married in 1948, they are the parents of
three children, and have published their joint autobiography, With
Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together. He has carved out a phenomenal
career from his start on the Community stage during the height of the
Great Depression, through his stage and film work during the hurricane
of the Civil Rights Movement; Ossie Davis has been a strong, forceful
voice for human dignity and social justice. Ossie Davis was found dead
on February 4, 2005 in his hotel room in Miami Beach, Fla. He was making
a film called Retirement. []
